


Assignment + Hospital + History

by EWM



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016) Whump, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Gen, Hurt Angus Macgyver (Macgyver 2016), Other, Poor Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 49,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26414884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EWM/pseuds/EWM
Summary: Okay so big MacGyver fan. This is the first fan fiction I ever wrote and actually tried to plan, as opposed to just spewing words onto a page. It remains in bits on my tumblr. Thoughts and comments appreciated. It's set kind post season 4/season 5.
Relationships: Angus MacGyver & Desiree "Desi" Nguyen, Angus MacGyver/Desiree "Desi" Nguyen, Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton & Matilda "Matty" Webber (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016) & Riley Davis, Wilt Bozer & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Wilt Bozer & Riley Davis (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 115
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

She was terrified of going into the hospital that first day. It was always the same at the start of an undercover job; fear, excitement and general adrenaline. She checked her appearance one last time, the wig was on tight and already itching

“I must not scratch, I must not scratch.” She murmured over and over again, she checked the camera of the lapel of her suit, snapping her fingers in front of it a few times and watching the clips. Everything was working fine. She had no other choice, other than to be off.

She got to the hospital early and waited in the hall gently tapping her feet. Eventually Dr Cotton came out

“Miss Kauffman, it’s good to see you again! I trust you didn’t have any trouble finding us this time round!”

“No Doctor, it was fine, although I have to admit it really is in the middle of nowhere!” She laughed nervously.

“That’s for the patient’s sake, too much stimulation can be very damaging to them.” Dr Cotton said looking at her as if she were a small child he was trying to make understand something very simple. Part of her desperately wanted to eyeball him back and curse him out. What a patronising prick…. But she didn’t follow her first instinct, she went meek and mild.

“Of course, doctor. I was only making conversation. I guess I’m a little nervous on my first day. My apologies” She said look downing, playing with her glasses. She played it right, the doctor immediately softened.

“Of course, Miss Kauffman, I understand this must all be very scary for you. A huge hospital and a lot of responsibility.” He leaned in close putting his arm round her, she supressed a shudder as he invaded her personal space. He led her away speaking at speed about her new job.

Dr Cotton was ranting on for what seemed like hours (more like 20 minutes if truth be told), listing her many duties as the lowest level doctor there. Listing patients, admin, duties, cleaning things, meds for patients, treatment programmes all off on his fingers. They had been to see several patients today and he opened another door to show her another one.

“Now this one is interesting, delusions of grandeur, incredible psychosis, victim complex. It’s really remarkable.” Dr Cotton said as she followed him into the room.

She looked at the patient, listening as best she could and spinning the camera round to film as much as she could. Then she saw his face and started. Dr Cotton didn’t notice her reaction, instead he pulled out a syringe out of his pocket and said

“Now let’s see if we can get him to wake up and react to you."

“I don’t think that’s…” but it was too late. He injected the liquid directly into the patient’s arm. Marriott stepped back horrified. The patient awoke with a start. The patient was a young man, he was maybe later 20s, maybe 30. It was kind of hard to tell, he was so thin, he had a mass of long blond hair, that covered half his face. There was a bruise across one side. He had an IV in his arm (sometimes Cotton had completely ignored), he was also restrained, his wrists and ankles were handcuffed to the metal frame on the sides of the bed. A striking set of blue eyes stared at her in panic.

“What, why I am? What’s going on? Let me go? Doc, look, I’m not who you think I am.” He started to wriggle on the bed trying to move about.

“Well Mr Norris, who do you think you are today? “ Dr Cotton asked smiling

“I’m, III…” the man reacted and panicked groaning. Dr Cotton urged her forward.

“Now Mr Norris, I’d like you to meet our newest doctor, Miss Kauffman. She’s going to take care of you.” Dr Cotton pushed Marriott forward

“You!! I thought you were dead, we fought, we…you never forgave me. I was so ashamed…I’m so sorry.” The man panicked more, pulling at the restraints, revealing the orange uniform he wore, like a prisoner and a series of bruises around his wrists and ankles and cuts. He’s fought hard against these before Marriott thought.  
Marriott moved forward trying to be calm.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I frightened you. Please try and be calm. I really am here to help. Please don’t be scared of me. I’m really not scary at all.” She moved forward putting her hands on the metal rail of the bed, she attempted a smile, the young man stared at her, on impulse she leant over and put her hand in his, giving it an encouraging squeeze. For a moment, this seemed to calm him, he stared down, shocked at the human contact, contact that was so gentle, a soft hand in his. He moved his fingers over her hand, exploring and hold tight. He registered the scar in the middle of her hand, long and straight, she’d had it since childhood, panic rose again.

“I know that scar, I had a friend who had that scar, it was my fault she got that scar. She ran away from me, I deserved it, I hurt her, I hurt everybody…I”

At this point Dr Cotton moved forward, pushing her back and injecting the man with something else, it was quick, the panicked mumblings subsided into sleep. The day passed without further incident. Dr Cotton continued the tour of the facility and showed her yet more patients, some were freer that the young man she had seen. But so many of them had a kind of frightened look; trapped in their own heads, desperate to get out and Cotton seemed blissfully unaware of all this. Marriott did her best to take it all in; smiling nodding, taking notes, keeping her eyes down, playing the meek and mild junior doctor, while all the while wanting to scream. This assignment was going to be tougher than she thought.

The young man screamed that night. Long after Marriott left, he woke from the drugs they gave him, he pulled against his restraints making the multiple cuts and bruises on his arms and legs worse. Pain shot through his limbs. Some part of his mind was convinced that it had been a fantasy, that Marriott hadn’t been there, that he hadn’t seen her after all these years. She looked different, the hair was different, she looked more professional, but the scar. The scar he remembered or at least he recognised it somehow. Every time he tried to shut his eyes and think of her or something else than the pain he was in, or the tiny room that he had been locked in for so long, he was tormented by waking dreams, flashes of faces and memories. He could see his father, the father he desperately wanted, the father that was gone and other faces, so many faces, were they his friends? Other members of his family? No, he had no family, that had been drilled into him for months, he didn’t have family or friends, he didn’t deserve either. But the faces still danced before his eyes, someone smiling and joking, hugging him; what was his name? he saw a woman, her eyes, her smile, what was her name?? Fragments of memory flooded his head, but they were somehow poisoned. People he loved turned to him in disgust. They spat on him or faded into darkness. The doctors in this place were right, he didn’t deserve family, he always failed them and then they left. He woke up screaming more than once angering a number of the guards and night nurses who monitored the place. By screaming session number three the guards and one of the nursers were furious and were determined to make him suffer.

Two guards marched into his room, followed by a nurse. The nurse slapped him to rouse him and speedily undoing his restraints, before he had time to react, the guards moved his bed into the centre of the room. One of them yanked out his IV, leaving a streak of blood behind. Before he had time to react, they got him to his feet and proceeded to punch him in the chest. He fought against them, even in his weakened state, pushing desperately to get away from them. He managed to elbow one of the ribs and stamp on the foot of the other one, he tried to push the nurse out of the way. The young man knew the nurse and was desperate to escape him. The nurse who was huge, reacted fast, as the man tried to race pass. He grabbed the young man by his hair, he pulled the man’s face close to his and murmured in his ear.

“You think you can get away from me, do you? After all the fun we’ve had together. You can’t ever get away, you’re one of mine now. You’re one of my patients and you can’t get away from me...ever” He slammed the young man into the floor, blood started to trickle down the young man’s face.

The two guards kicked him the in ribs repeatedly, he heard them crack as he tried to breath, he held his hands tight across his chest and face trying to protect himself in a ball. But it was no use, the nurse got one of his hands free and stamped on it, breaking two of his fingers. When the kicking eventually stopped, he managed to pull himself up and leant against a wall looking up at his tormenters all standing over him. He clutched his broken hand against his chest, rasping through broken ribs.

“You’re not going to make one more sound tonight. Got it?” one of the guards said wielding a baton a few centimetres away from his face. The young man nodded his head and swallowed.

“Or we come in here and you get this again.”A second guard said, again the man nodded staying silent.

The second guard smirked and punched him in the face, the young man crumpled further onto the floor using his one remaining good hand to steady himself, he spat blood onto the floor, but he stayed absolutely silent. The guards smiled over this broken figure and walked away, leaving him on the floor, locking on the door behind them. Eventually the young man managed to pull himself up again and leant against the wall again. He stayed there for a long time, his blue eyes staring into space, the only sound his rasping breathing, in and out. Eventually he managed to get himself up again, limping heavily, he realised belatedly that something was wrong with one of his legs as well. He pushed the bed into the corner and heaved himself onto it still clutching his hand against his chest. He managed to turn himself onto his side turning his back to the dismal room, he one handily pulled what blankets he had onto himself and stared at the wall until the sun came up.

Marriott didn’t sleep much after her first day in the hospital. She tossed and turned in her tiny bed in her rented apartment, she couldn’t believe it was him. Not after all these years, surely? What was he doing there? What had happened to him that had gone so wrong? God those blue eyes, those piercing blue eyes. It was just surreal seeing them after so much time, so like her own or that’s what people always told them when there were kids. He didn’t seem to know her. It was bizarre, he recognised her, kind of. He recognised the scar on her hand for sure, that jogged his memory for certain. Maybe he was her way in, how long had he been there? Maybe he could tell something about the workings of the place? Could she make an excuse to see him alone without Dr Cotton? So many thoughts.

Eventually Marriott crawled out of bed as her buzzing brain wouldn’t let her sleep. She got dressed speedily, nibbling on fruit in her tiny kitchen. The place was a mess really and so depressing, equipment and notes were strewn everywhere already. She’d need to tidy up the place, this assignment was going to be 3 months long, potentially more. Something to worry about later. Eventually she looked at herself in the mirror, scraping up her own long hair into a tiny wig or what felt like a tiny one, it was a weird trick, her most recognisable feature was suddenly gone under a non-descript layer of mousey brown and frankly slightly grey hair. She pulled on the heavy glasses that gave her a slightly beady look. She set off early for the Institute, the Grey Sea Institute as it was officially called, determined not to be late on her first official day and make a perfect impression. Her obsession paid off, she got there 40 minutes early. There was no Dr Cotton to meet her this time, she had to make her own way through, she smiled at the desk clerk at the front, waving her newly printed identity card in front of his face. He glared and pushed a button, letting her through. She wondered through the corridors seeing the odd staff member from the night team still about, she smiled at everyone, the more friends she could make the better. Eventually she found a small breakroom where most of the medical staff seemed to be hovering sipping cups of smelly coffee and staring into space.

Marriott made polite conversation with the various staff members smiling and fiddling with her glasses, she wanted to be pleasant but forgettable at least initially, that was the key with undercover work she’d found in the past. It seemed to go according to plan as none of them really paid a great deal of attention to her and when she casually mentioned visiting her new patients and saying hello to them, the senior doctor waved her away. Marriott mused as she walked, there was something really weird about this whole place, the doctors, nurses, all the staff were sort of dosed. Eventually she found the right corridor, the first door approached her, she took a deep breath and stepped in.

The scene before her eyes shocked her, the patient should have been asleep on his bed, it was still pretty early, but instead he was sprawled on the floor, a blanket half tangled over his legs. The minimal furniture had been turned over in the room and just left. Without thinking she rushed over to the young man, he was asleep or knocked out? There was dry blood on the floor coming from his nose. Someone had given him a good right hook at some point since yesterday. She gently put a hand on his shoulder, he awoke with his start.

He was a handsome man, or at least he would have been if he hadn’t been so underweight and hollow cheeked. He had dark brown eyes, almost black and a shock of long black hair and uneven stubble. There was a black eye forming on the right side of his face. He flinched away from her, almost on autopilot.

“Hey please don’t be frightened. My name’s Doctor Kauffman. Doctor Cotton brought me around yesterday? I don’t know if you remember, I’m the new doctor here. It’s my first day so I thought I’d come see you and check on you.”

“What, oh yeah, the newbie with the nerd glasses.” Marriott snorted faintly

“Yes, that’s me.” The young man looked at her with a panicked expression

“Hey, look doctor, I’m really sorry, I’ll call you whatever you like. I didn’t mean to be rude.” Marriott rather taken back by his change in tone did her best to reassure him.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine, it’s a very good description and my glasses are a little silly.” She said smiling at him. When he said nothing staying sitting on the floor, eyes down.

She changed tact. She got up and offered him a hand.

“Why don’t you call me Doctor Kauffman then, what should I call you?”

He grimaced slightly as he tried to get up. She waited patiently her hand still there, reluctantly he grabbed it, heaving himself up. He was huge, well over six foot tall, towering over her.

“Haven’t you read my file? Don’t you know my name?” he said

“I’m not asking that or commenting on your file, I’m simply asking what you want to be called.”

“Ben is fine.”

“Well Ben it’s good to meet you. You want to tell me how you ended up on the floor?”

“ I fell.”

“And that black eye?”

“I fell twice.”

“I really should check to see if you’ve got any kind of concussion.”

She moved her hands towards him and he backed away from her. She stopped not keen to push it hard on her first She sighed inwardly, abuse of patients, that was yet another thing she was going to add to her list, she was going to bury this place and all the corruption in it.

“Tell you what Ben, why don’t you try and get back into bed. I’ll speak to the nurses about when breakfast is coming and getting some tests done to make sure you’ve got no permanent damage.” Ben sniggered. Again, Marriott was a little confused, but hid it as best she could. She made for the door; Ben sat on his bed.

“Hey Doctor Kauffman”

Marriott turned around expectantly

“Let me give you some advice, you don’t belong here. You’re nice, you’re normal, get out and don’t come back.”

With that rather over dramatic statement he lifted himself onto his bed and turned away from her. Marriott was left a little dumbfounded. She shut the door behind and stood in the corridor. Eventually her brain clicked into gear and she made her way to the nurse’s station and grabbed the nearest nurse and issued some short sharp instructions about breakfast and checking on the patient “Ben Barnard” as his named turned out to be.

Marriott went through and checked on various other patients that Doctor Cotton had showed her the previous day, some were asleep as they should be, some flinched away from her. Others murmured gibberish, all the rooms were wrecked, they smelt odd. Clearly a few of the patients were incontinent, but it was more than that, there was a weird chemical smell in the air too. Eventually she got to the room she’d been dreading – “Mr Norris” Quietly she opened the door, the room like Ben’s had been a mess, someone had turned it over. The restraints hung over the bars of the bed, the IV had been ripped out and the pole was leaning against a wall. Again, there was dried blood on the floor, a fight had happened in the early hours, she guessed. The patient ‘Mr Norris’ was seemingly asleep his back facing her, his blond hair a mess revealing the back of his neck, she could see a purple bruise forming on the back that she was certain wasn’t there yesterday. Gently she placed a hand on his shoulder just as she had done with Ben, instantly he was awake. He flinched at her touching and him and groaned. He rounded on her, his back against the wall, he seemed to be trying to push himself into the wall from her.

“I wasn’t making any noise, I promise.” He said

Marriott didn’t respond, she was speechless, he had a new black eye across his left side, a bruise on his cheek and his lip was cut. New bruises were on his arms too and his hand, Jesus Christ, his hand! He was holding it up against his chest, two of the fingers were horribly misshapen and a large section of it was a disgusting black and purple colour.

“I’m not interested in noise, let me look at your hand.” Marriott said moving towards him

“No, it’s fine, I’ll be fine” He said panicking moving against the wall again

“Mac please...” Marriott pleaded with him. She opened her mouth and then shut it dumbfounded, it had been a long time since she’d said that name.

He stared at her, disbelieving, his nightmare dream was back again.

“What did you call me?”

“I said may I please look at your hand, I want to help.” She asked, desperate to cover her error. He couldn’t recognise at least not now, otherwise everything would be blown.

Mac stared at her, slowly he extended his hand towards her, trusting her and not really sure why. Marriott very carefully took his hand in hers; the middle two fingers were broken for sure. There was heavy bruising on the rest of it. She carefully moved each of his fingers and asked him to move his hand around, he grimaced as he tried to move his middle fingers.

“I’ll need to reset this or maybe one of the senior staff should. It’ll need an x-ray. Those two fingers are broken.” He panicked again, trying to take his hand back. She gently kept her grip on his wrist.

“Please no, it’ll be fine, I can fix my hand myself. It’ll heal fine, you don’t need to call anyone.”

“Okay, okay, no senior doctors. But I need to do something with it. Let me think.” She looked around the dismal hospital room and then had a brainwave. She carefully placed his hand on the metal rail of his bed and rummaged around in her pockets. She pulled out two midsized pencils, a swiss army knife with a blue handle and a delicate hanky with a flowered pattern on it and place them on his bed. The knife caught his eye, he lent into look more closely.

“Are you allowed to have that here?” He said, gesturing to the knife

“Probably not, but I’ve had it so long, I’d feel odd without it. Now may I have your hand again.” She asked, patient and calm.

He nodded at her quietly. She took the two pencils and snapped them, placing them on the bed, she then gently extended his fingers as best she could, trying hard not hurt him. He didn’t stay a word, he just stared at her own hands as she completed her task. She placed two of the pieces on either side of his wrecked fingers. She then took the hanky which was huge and used the knife to tear it into four pieces, she took three of the pieces and gently slipped them under his broken fingers.

“This’ll hurt.” She said and with three swift nots had tied what was a very loose interpretation of a splint around the damaged digits. Although he flinched a little, his eyes didn’t leave the task she was doing.

“This will hold your fingers for now. But I’ll need to set it fully later. I promise no senior doctors, but I’ll need to do it again, so your hand has a chance at recovering.”

He was shocked, this woman, she wanted to help. She’d been kind to him, she hadn’t tormented him or asked him questions. There must be something wrong, it couldn’t last, surely and that name? It meant something to him. What had she called him? After a few minutes of silence, where she just sat on the bed and looked at him. He murmured “Thank you.”

His sincerity broke her heart. She packed up her knife, what remained of the pencils and her hanky. He gripped her wrist with his good hand and looked at her square in the eye, again those piercing blue eyes, so unmistakable.

  
“Truly thank you.”

“I’ll speak to the nurses about getting you something to eat and I’ll come back later to take you for an x-ray.” She said, he lay back against the wall next to his bed suddenly quiet again. Marriott left shutting the door behind her, she paused outside his room, leaning against the wall, blinking back the tears that were coming down her face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this bit got very dark. Please forgive me, I tried to keep the horror of it, but you know not making it super depressing, kind of like the show when the writing really works well. Feedback and comments are welcome. I should add I have limited knowledge of military funerals, if I've made any mistakes let me know and I'll happily amend and fix.

Dr Cotton arrived an hour or so later so Marriott had time enough to recover her composure. He approved of her early start and her desire to see the patients ‘because after all they were the priority.’ Cotton gave her a long list of tasks to do (again), a lot of which involved following him around while he visited patients of his own, she took notes for him and said nothing and was told to ‘watch and learn’ as he poked and prodded patients and asked them questions. Occasionally she saw the odd nurse about, the whole place seemed chronically understaffed compared with the previous day; particularly for an ‘exclusive private hospital’ that charged extortionate fees to be there. Eventually Cotton gave her a break, partly because he wanted some privacy of his own. She thanked him profusely and escaped seemingly around a corner. Once Cotton’s back was turned, she followed him, going quietly, going into the odd closet along the way to make sure she wasn’t discovered. He led her on a merry dance round the hospital but eventually went back to his office and carefully locked it behind. She’d need to get in there at some point.

After Cotton proved a dead end, Marriott used her time to explore other parts of the hospital, although Cotton had given her the impression that he’d shown everything that was clear it wasn’t true. She explored the upper floors of the facility, although the main floors she'd been shown the previous day were sparkling and shiny or at least on the outside. Large sections of the building were not exactly abandoned, but the condition of the corridors deteriorated as she went further and further away from the main hub of patients. The higher floors was covered with dust and mess, bits of broken hospital equipment were everywhere, and it was all terribly out of date. These rooms should be filled with people; rich Americans demanding tests and eating overpriced hospital food. Eventually she returned to the main corridor where all the patients seemed to be kept, wasn’t there more yesterday? She explored the breakout area and hospital canteen where ‘first class food’ was supposed to be served. It was empty and smelled wrong; there was one worker in there behind the till reading a magazine and smoking. Marriott wondered in an around and put on her best smile for the guy; he didn’t look up. She went back around to the patients ward and began looking on them again. Ben was gone; when she asked the nurse where, the nurse simply said that he gone for one of his treatment sessions with another doctor.

A woman was still in her room pacing back forth, but when Marriott tried to enter, she forced the door back on her. Marriott looked at her through the plastic, something about her face looked weirdly familiar, had she been in the news? Who knows; Morgan Price? She’d have to look for her later. Eventually she returned to the room she was still dreading; she crept in quietly. Thankfully he was actually asleep, absolutely asleep his wrecked hand resting on his chest in her makeshift splint. She didn’t want to wake him; the replacement splint and x-ray could wait. She looked down at him, what had Mac done to end up in the awful place?

ONE YEAR EARLIER

Matty had called them all into the war room that day. It had been like any other day and that had been amazing, after the horror of their first battle with Codex and actually winning it, the team enjoyed peace and quiet, or as much peace as they ever got; when they were blowing up warlords and stopping criminal gangs. Mac had for the first time in months felt some measure of contentment. He and Desi were finally getting along again after all the mess and the crazy, they were well… a couple again. The work against Codex continued of course, but now it was a matter of finding them again. While researchers and scientists and other agents hunted the globe for Codex, Mac and his friends continued their everyday activities saving the world. Desi and him walked into the office; laughing and arguing as usual

“No, how can you say Rick and Morty’s third series is the worst. That’s completely wrong, the writing is better, the characters are more developed. Even the animation is more impressive; by every conceivable factor, it’s an improvement.” Mac said pushing his hair out of his face.

Desi shrugged her shoulders at him.

“I can’t help it, I just don’t find the jokes as funny as you and character development is kinda a stretch for a cartoon, don’t you think? And as for the animation, well I liked the amateurish nature of the early series. It made it more fun, for me”

Mac groaned at her, Desi always argued like this, it was never rational, it was always emotional, never practical. It was part of what made arguing with her fun and super annoying in about equal measure. Desi put a placating hand on his arm and said

“Tell you what, I’ll watch the third series of Rick and Morty with you again, if you agree to watch Blue Planet with me tonight.”

She smiled at him, there was a pause “I’ll pick up sandwiches from D’Agastino’s and Rocky Road.”

“Done.” Desi snorted, Rocky Road was always a useful bargaining chip when it came to Mac. They continued around corner the finding Bozer, the gossip turned to movies and Bozer’s new culinary creation, he’d be trying to develop a ‘duck pasta a l’orange’ in his downtime with varying levels of success. Eventually Riley joined them, adding her own groans to Bozer and his insistence on his discussion of his latest masterpiece. They entered the war room, gossiping and happy reminiscent of a gang of teenagers in school. Matty was silent when they came in, there was no file up on the screen, no map, nothing. She had her back to them.

“Hey boss, what’s up? Where are we going today?” Riley said 

"Riley, I think you better sit down, you too Mac.” Webber responded, still not turning around

“Listen Matty, I’m sure whatever it is, we can handle it.” Bozer smiled, all confidence and charm always.

“Bozer, be quiet. I’ve got something important to say.” Bozer instantly shut his mouth and slid into one of the chairs. Mac sat in the other picking up a paper clip like he did a thousand times before. Riley also perched on the third. Desi remained standing bracing herself.

Webber turned around, breathing slowly, willing herself to keep calm and not break.

“It’s about Jack.” She said simply

“How is Jack? We haven’t heard from what two months. I mean, how has still not got this guy, Kovacs??” Bozer rattled on covering his nervousness and temporarily forgetting his promised silence.

“Bozer, shut up.” Riley snapped

“He’s dead” Mac said quietly from behind them, not looking up from his paper clip. The gang stared back at him in horror, disbelieving.

“Two weeks ago, killed in a gun battle against Kovacs’s men.” Webber responded

“No, no, he can’t be dead. He’s not dead, he’ll be hiding, Jack always finds a way. He’s found away out. When he was here, you and him, you always escaped death. You always found a way….” Riley said staring at Mac, starting to sob. Bozer leapt off the chair to comfort her, wrapping his arms round her. She continued to cry quietly murmuring “he can’t be dead” over and over again.

“I am truly sorry Riley, to all of you. It’s him. I ..saw the body myself. It’s him.”

Webber continued on looking at Mac

“His body is returning home in two days for the funeral. His sister will be there obviously, but Mac…” Finally Webber’s own strength left her and her voice cracked.

Mac looked up his eyes watering, he swallowed. “Of course I’ll be there.”

At this point Mac walked out of the war room, he placed the paperclip on the table. It was two connected circles. Desi who had stayed silent up to this point, raced after him. He stopped in one of the corridors and turned to her.

“He’s dead….” Mac couldn’t even finish the sentence, he simply trailed off. Desi responded by wrapping her arms around him and holding him. Bozer and Riley walked out not long after, Riley weeping into Bozer’s shoulder, now quiet. Bozer said nothing, he just kept his arm round her.

Matty shut the door behind them and muted the windows and door so she was quite alone, she stared at the empty chairs and murmured quietly to herself. “Please forgive me.”

The funeral took place a week later in Texas, Mac and several of Jack’s Delta squad buddies carried the casket as an honour guard all dressed in full military dress. One of them folded the flag and presented it to Jack’s sister Dina. "Taps", was played by a lone bugler, who happened to be one of Jack’s old teachers. A priest said a few words (something Mac thought was bizarre and he knew Jack had never been the religious type) and just like that Jack Dalton, the man who had been so invincible was put into the ground. Mac had said nothing throughout the ceremony, he’d just squeezed Desi’s hand and kissed the top of her head. Riley had attached herself to Bozer, even Riley’s mother had shown up for the funeral. She stayed silent too, the odd tear coursing down her face. Matty and Russell has come as well, Russell had never met Jack, but had promised to try and be as helpful as possible. He was quiet and respectful, no jokes, no sarcasm. Just quiet respect. After the ceremony, everyone headed back to the Dalton family house at Dina’s request. Mac after having been alone in his own thoughts for so long, was suddenly surrounded by Daltons of all shapes and sizes. Dina’s kids ran around screaming and chatting, providing a wonderful break in the gloom and depression. Dina and her husband had piled the kitchen and living room with food and drink, slowly the scene started to relax a little.

Desi and him settled in a corner with drinks. She sipped a whisky and he drank down an apple tini because well he was a little odd.

“You doing okay?” Desi asked

“As okay I can be…I guess. This all seems so...I don’t know weird.” He cast his eyes around the room and saw a huge cheesy picture of Jack complete with flowers galore surrounding it. Eventually Dina requested they all settled themselves for speeches. She spoke about Jack cooing over him as a brother telling a sweet story about how he rescued her from bullies. So did some of the local school teachers talking about his tear away days and many of the men Jack had served with, they all spoke well of him, his bravery, his kindness, his calmness under fire.

“You should say something” Desi murmured

“What, no way…I..” “You’re right okay, none of this is very Jack. It’s all a bit weird…so fix it.”

Desi gave him a push, forcing him to stand up. Dina turned to back and smiled expectantly at him, he looked down at Desi.

She smiled at him and mouthed improvise!

“Jack was…” he trailed off.

“Jack was…you know what Jack sometimes, he was a real asshole.” There was a shocked surprise from the relatives and surrounding friends. Dina’s kids were next to their mother, they giggled.

“Uncle Mac said a bad word.”

“Shhh!” their mother hissed.

“He used to drive me mad, I had to explain things to him again and again because he apparently didn’t understand them. I swear sometimes, he would just play ignorant to annoy me, although he would probably claim it helped me think. The first time I met him in Afghanistan, he tried to beat the crap out of me and said my name sounded like a hamburger.” Mac paused for a breath. There was silence and then suddenly Dina let out a squark of laughter followed by uncontrollable giggling, her children standing next to her followed once again and Mac relaxed. He described scenes from their missions for Phoenix, leaving out key details of what they had actually been doing of course. He even smiled himself as memories of Jack came flooding back into his head. After ten minutes he rounded off

“If friendship was based on logic, Jack and I would never have been friends, we shouldn’t have fitted together. But he always had my back and I .”

Mac’s voice cracked slightly as he thought and I didn’t have his, not when it counted.

“He always had my back and he made me the man I am today, I will always miss him and think of him. My friend, my partner. You’ll never been forgotten.”

Mac sat down again and yanked Desi’s drink out of her hand, downing it.

“You’re welcome.” She said smiling.

Dina came up to him and knelt down next to him.

“Thank you so much. He would have loved that.” She murmured quietly in his ear.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phoenix foundation moves on after the funeral...a mission goes horribly wrong and Mac faces the consequences (so much whump)

After that life returned to normal with surprising speed. They all headed back to the Phoenix Foundation, missions continued on. Except of course it didn’t, Riley basically stopped talking. She answered questions on missions, provided answers and programmes and saved lives much as she always did, but whenever Mac tried to speak to her outside of work she wouldn’t speak to him. Mac began to obsess over Jack’s fate, he read the mission reports Matty gave to him again and again looking for clues over Jack, trying to understand. He even requested that he be put in Jack’s place on the task force to hunt down Kovacs, but Matty refused. Bozer was the only one who vaguely kept it together going between Mac and Riley offering comforting words and food. Desi made a lot of soup for Mac and watched Rick and Morty on repeat with him, until he fell asleep in her arms every night.

Three months after Jack’s funeral came the mission to Grey’s Psychiatric Hospital, it was located in Paris, in the middle of the city. The Phoenix Foundation suspected that it was a front for a kind of smuggling ring and Mac was to go in as a patient and get as much information as possible and get out. Something he had done several times in the past, Riley was back up in the van, using her powers to break into the hospital’s security monitoring cameras, providing fake IDs, Bozer was a lookout and Desi went in as a doctor/escort with Mac in a wheelchair spouting gibberish. Initially the mission went fine, Mac adapted and spent days exploring the hospital sneaking behind doors, getting into locked rooms. He found some of the details, he was looking for, but not enough. The mission got extended and Mac eventually discovered evidence of a people smuggling ring, he managed to transfer the data to Riley outside and get a message to arrange exfil for him and the trapped people he had found in the dark corners of the hospital.

The hostages were removed first at Mac’s request for safety, that was done with relative ease. Mac made a makeshift ladder to get them out a back window; Desi knocked out the guards with Bozer, while Riley made sure all the cameras were facing the other way. They made a bizarre procession sneaking through the Parisian streets and into a truck that headed out the city and off to safety. The plan had been to return for Mac two days later so as not to rouse suspicion and because Mac was convinced there was something else he could find. But by the time the team returned, the hospital and it’s staff were gone and so was Mac. It was just an empty building with a weird smell inside, all the equipment was gone. The one thing they did discover was a new set of hostages, frightened and exhausted, Mac had set them down the same escape route as the first set. The Phoenix conducted exhaustive interviews with them all, but came up with nothing, many of them were traumatised they could barely speak, let alone remember. Matty kept the team their for an extra month in a bid to track down MacGyver and bought in additional support, but they had no luck. The hospital’s records were gone, the staff wiped from existence seemingly. Teams covered the grounds and the surrounding again and again and came up with nothing. Russell called in every contact he had in the Parisian government, but to no avail. As the days wore on, hope began to give out. Matty forced the team to return to the U.S. insisting that they would keep looking from there and they tried. Riley spent days on the dark web trying to find something on Mac, on the hospital, but it was all gone.

As the days became months and no trace of Mac was found, the inevitable question came up. Russell with all his usual lack of tact was the first to bring it up.

“We have to face the fact that he might be dead.” He said to Matty in the war room one day when was on his own with her.

“I will not accept that. I will not, Mac will be found. I’m not losing him.” Webber snapped back at him.

“What about the rest of them?”

“What about them?”

“They’ll have to go back to work eventually. They need to start doing missions again that aren’t simply about saving Angus MacGyver as much you want them too. There are plenty of other people who need our help.” Russell responded.

Part of Webber wanted to scream, she was stressed, exhausted and horrified at the prospect of Mac not being alive. She had lost agents before, but Mac had a special place in her heart. She also knew that Dalton had he been there would never forgive her if they stopped looking for Mac. But she also that Russell in his irritating way was right too. The Phoenix had a job to do and the country’s safety was her first priority. Eventually Russell and Webber came to a sort of agreement, still keeping some resources on finding Mac but deciding that Riley, Bozer and Desi had to be put onto something else. What followed was one of the worst weeks of Matty’s life; screaming match after screaming match with each of them; she was betraying them, betraying Mac after everything he had done for the Phoenix, how could she? But eventually they all fell into line; Desi was a soldier at heart and the prospect of disobeying orders was not something she relished not even to find Mac. Bozer fumed and cursed but eventually agreed with the promise that Matty would put him back on the search for Mac at some point in the future. And Riley? Riley in some ways was the worst, after the initial fight she was just very quiet and eventually nodded her agreement and walked off. Matty would have preferred it if she screamed or yelled, at least then there would be a trace of emotion. Cold Riley was worse and potentially dangerous. All problems to deal with later. So the Phoenix team that had run so smoothly less then six months earlier clunked slowly back into life once again and Mac was not mentioned again at work at least not in front of Matty or Russell. People’s lives were still saved and the Phoenix reputation grew, but inside the war room was cold and everyone was distant. Desi closed up Mac’s house two months after he disappeared as she just couldn’t keep living there.

Mac hadn’t started off his time in the ‘hospital’ with a broken mind. He got captured in Paris because he managed to find a dozen more people and the guards found him when he was making another makeshift ladder to get them out. Part of him thought that he could manage it on his own, he had seen the practices inside the place and didn’t want to risk any of them getting captured. He couldn’t lose another member of his family, not after Jack. The last of the hostages had escaped and he was about to follow when one of the guards grabbed him, he was huge and had a star tattoo on the back of his neck. Mac tackled him the floor, he managed to grab the pole of the one of the standing lights and slam it into him, he made for the window once again, but the man really was strong and quickly got up and pulled a taser out from behind him and slammed into Mac’s back. Mac collapsed next to the window slamming against the frame as he went down. He woke up a day or so late in a different building, he worked that out fast. He was underground in a stone room, there were small panels everywhere and a set of metal stairs in a corner. He was barefooted as he had been when trying to escape, he was handcuffed to a metal chair. The cuffs that were keeping his feet and arms very much in place were too tight, so he could barely move. He also had a monster headache and a cut on his head, there was a blood streak down the side of his head. He registered an IV in his arm, he’d been dosed with something. His mind was hazy, he heard footsteps and speedily shut his eyes and waited. The two men came in, one was the guard with the star tattoo, the other was more distinguished, elegant even. He was a navy jacket, a silk shirt and trousers and heeled black boots.

“Now monsieur, please do not insult me, by pretending to be asleep, I’m well aware that you heard both me and my associate entering the room. Open those eyes of yours, let us face each other.”

Mac obligingly opened his eyes and stared at his still unknown enemy.

“That was quite an escape you almost managed, although I suspect you had help. Care to tell me who it was?”

Mac continued to stare at his enemy keeping his mouth, determinedly shut .

“Or why you came to my facility? Looking at your record, you clearly needed help. But I’m curious what your own explanation is.”

“I came to get better, that’s it. Whatever you think I am, you’ve got it wrong.” Mac responded.

“Really, you’re just an ordinary patient? Who needs help, treatment? Is that it?” Mac didn’t like the man’s tone or where this might lead. But it was the best answer he could come up with for now, without giving himself or the others way.

“That’s right. I need help. I need to forget…I need to make myself whole again...I need to be fixed I promise” Mac said making it up as he went.

“This is going to be fun…I think you are far from ordinary Mr Norris and whoever you were with will come looking for you, I don’t doubt. But I think we’ve got some time before then. For now”

The man in the silk shirt bent down and kneeled next to MacGyver, he grabbed Mac’s IV in his arm and twisted it around. Mac groaned as pain shot up and down his arm, he pulled his wrists and feet against the restraints to no avail.

“For now, you are indeed my patient, so I’ll treat you thus. What’s going through you arm currently is a marvellous combination of Benzodiazepines, you did say you wanted to forget, Atropine and Scopolamine. You might be finding it at little difficult to stay focused, is your heart rated slowing down? Well all these are helping ‘remake’ you Mr Norris. They’re doing what you asked. They’re making you whole again, they’ll took a few of the pesky things you want to forget. By the end of your time with me, Mr Norris, you won’t recognise yourself.”

After this speech the man in silk departed. Mac was left alone with the man with the star tattoo. He smiled down at Mac

“I owe you for those broken ribs you gave me in Paris.”

He was good to his word, the punches started at Mac’s stomach and moved up, Mac felt two of his ribs crack. Then the man went for the right hook, followed by a left hook. Mac’s nose broke, blood streamed down it. This horrific session continued on for what felt like hours, eventually Mac just passed out. When the man with the star tattoo realised this, he stopped. He called in two what looked like doctors, the doctors undid his restraints and sewed up the IV in his arm, leaving the tube in his arm for future ‘sessions’. They carried him up the stairs and out the door. He was thrown into a van, the two doctors got in with him. The man with the star tattoo drove them away. The next time Mac woke up he was in a hospital bed in a small room. He was restrained once again and the IV was still in his arm, the medical scrubs had now been replaced with orange scrubs, powerfully reminiscent of the last time he had to sneak into somewhere unnoticed. That hadn’t ended well either, he had no strange visitors this time. All they did was play music at top volume at intervals, it was deafening, he didn’t sleep again that night. He tried to get out of the restraints, but somehow his body didn’t move the way it was suppose too, it was sluggish. He could call the things to mind that he needed, but he couldn’t get his body to react the right way and the music made it hard, almost impossible to concentrate for any period of time. This went on all night. Eventually the music did stop, and Mac breathed a sigh relief with the pain and ringing still in his ears. He took a few deep breaths and attempted to move once again in the way that he had tried 20 times before during the night and failed again. He gave up and lay back on the bed, he’d have to wait for someone to come in, surely, they would right? They’d have to feed him? Or want to torment him or at the worst try and kill him. He’d simply have to wait.He didn’t have to wait long, a cheery looking blonde nurse appeared at his side an houor so later, checking the IV , the bedding he was in and smiling at him and tidying up the room.

“Please could you help me? My hands hurt, can you let them go free for a minute or two? Can you??? I need your help, I don’t belong here… I ” Mac didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. The nurse put a finger to his lips.

“No, no, Dr Severin told me about you! He said you would say that! Something about you’d been kidnapped? Bad men were after you?” Mac stared at her.

“Yes I know all about you, my dear. It’s called a persecution complex. Please let me assure you, no one is going to hurt you. No one is going to do anything bad to you. I thought that maybe you should eat something, but perhaps a sedative should be better. We don’t want you upsetting the other patients.”

“No, please, please stop…I” the sedative entered his arm before he had time to finish. His days continued like this, sometimes he was in a hospital room like an ordinary patient, always restrained. Other times his captors ‘Dr Severin” and the man with the star tattoo who he found out was named “Tristan” dragged him into the basement. Severin would ramble on about how he was fixing his mind and how the treatment would help him in the long run and would always ask him the same questions, where he was really from, who his friends were. Mac kept up his cover story as best he could. They broke his nose again and once when he fought so hard against the restraints, Tristan snapped his wrist. The locations changed too, there were different rooms, different hospitals. He got flashes of memory, being dragged in and out on gurneys into buildings. He saw others like him too, who were fighting furiously against guards and paying the price. Mac tried to escape twice, each time he got thrown into a white room. Sometimes the room was filled with a gas version of ketamine which made him woozy, other times people came in and gave him more injections. The second time he ended up in straitjacket, so he was even more helpless when Tristan came to teach him a ‘lesson’. After two months of this Severin visited him again, this time he was in a hospital bed, he thought maybe somewhere in Germany from the bits of language he had picked up from nurses and opening doors.

“So how are we doing today, Mr Norris?? Hmmm, still silent.” Mac lifted his head up from the bed and stared at Severin

“You know I’ve been thinking, Mr Norris. Those people you’ve been holding out for? Whoever they are? They’re not coming..” Mac laid back down again, waiting for him to leave.

“They’ve abandoned you for dead, for whatever reason, you don’t matter to them anymore. Maybe they thought coming after you was a waste of time, a waste of energy…who knows?” Mac turned his head away and shut his eyes, determined to shut out his words. Severin smiled, this was the most reaction he’d gotten out of him in months, he pushed on hard.

“I read in the file you submitted to my institute in Paris that one of your problems was fear of abandonment. I hate to say it, but I think your worst fear has happened. Your family, your friends, they’re gone. I wonder what you did to deserve that? Hhmmmm” Mac groaned internally, when coming up with his identity for the Paris job, they had done their best to keep reality out of it, but a fear of abandonment was such an obvious thing to put in the medical file for for a ‘psychiatric hospital’ , Matty had insisted it go in. Despite how close it might have been to the truth. He did his best not to react, he just shut his eyes tight and waited, Severin rambled on, he was abandoned, he was alone, he might as well talk, again and again. Mac managed to not scream or spit or shake in fury. The worst part being that he was wondering where Matty and Phoenix was, surely they should have found him by now? Were they relying on him to get out on his own? Could they not get to him ? Had they been hurt? Or was it something more sinister? Was he being abandoned for the sake of national security? For some political reason? Questions span in Mac’s head around and around all while yet another headache was forming. Finally Severin left him with a smile and promised to visit again soon.

That night he didn’t get his nose broken or his ribs cracked, the loud music came on again interspersed with phrases that had echoed Severin’s sentiments that day.

“You’re useless, you’ve been abandoned, you failed. They don’t want you. You’re on your own. You’re useless, you’ve been abandoned….you failed.” Over and over again. In his desperation Mac tried to call Jack to mind, trying to think what he would say.

“Don’t worry hoss, I’m with you, I’m always with you. I got your back…you know that right?? We’re a team, you got my back, I got yours…” But that just produced guilt in Mac’s head about Dalton’s death, he should have been there somehow to save Jack. As Riley had said when they were together, they always found away.

Severin realised that he had hit on a weak spot in his ‘Mr Norris’, so kept it up, the issues of abandonment, loneliness all got hammered in again and again. He decided ice baths would help too, so they became part of Mac’s horrible routine and to aid the ‘memory issue’ he added in electro shock therapy. Severin became so obsessed with his new pet and trying to break him that his staff and guards actually started to worry that he might lose focus on their main goals. More patients were coming all the time, more money was flowing in and out, the ‘Grey’s Psychiatric Hospital’ had more business that they knew what to do with. As the weeks pushed on, Mac’s world became smaller and smaller, the words that were so drilled into him started to take effect. He was alone, his friends and family didn’t want him anymore. They didn’t want to find him, just like his father….The cocktail of drugs started to affect his memory too. Things that were so clear started to fade, his life at the Phoenix, Bozer, Riley, Matty, his father, even Desi all became blurred in his head. Jack and his annoyances stuck around the longest, but even after a little while that became nothing but a blur, a set of brown eyes and annoying catch phrases. Severin realised that Mac was faltering, rather than staying stoically silent, Mac started to mumble I don’t know over and over again. He became the mask of the damaged man he’d put on all the months ago in Paris.

And so it was Angus MacGyver, international spy, loyal friend and brilliant young man began to forget himself. He became a ball of pain and anguish, he deserved his fate, his world didn’t exist beyond hospital walls. He was useless, he didn’t deserve to be saved, he was alone and he was broken.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marriott does some digging and we get some clues to the man behind the curtain...

Marriott watched over Mac as best she could in the following days. She visited him as often as possible and treated his injuries. His hand recovered slowly but surely. She spoke to Ben as well, he thought she was mad sticking around, but he opened up a little bit more each time. He had been there seven months; the doctors described him as a ‘schizophrenic’ but he said he wasn’t. She listened quietly and nodded. As she spoke to him, she realised there was something familiar about just as she had seen with Morgan in her first days at the hospital. But she still couldn’t place it exactly. After a month she called up her editor, taking a day off and driving miles away from the hospital and her flat so as to avoid suspicion to a field in the middle of nowhere. It was not a pleasant conversation

“Well??” Yann asked over the phone

“I still haven’t found anything concrete, that's not quite true. But I've not caught it on camera.” Marriott grunted

“After a month?? Are you kidding me? What have you been doing?” Yann snapped back at her

“Basically, trying to fit in and not get noticed”

“You’re running out of time kid, we can’t fund this project forever.”

“I know, I know Yann. Look I know I’ve got something, I’ve not found anything on the money yet, but I’m sure it’s in Dr Cotton’s office. But the patients themselves, I’m certainly they’re being abused. They come back with bruises all over their faces…one of them even had a broken hand.”

“I know I’ve seen the video you’ve been sending in? Have you seen any of the medical staff doing that to them?”

“No…but I’m sure it’s the staff or the guards potentially.”

“That’s of no use to us. You need to catch them in the act and you need to get to their finance records or get one of them to talk. That was the whole point of this exercise.”

“I know, I know, there’s one other thing about the patients. I think, I don’t some of their identities might be faked…”

“Okay…get to the point’”

“Look if I give you a few names, can you check? See what comes up in the official records? I can try and get there files at the hospital, but if I go snooping on the system. I’m sure to be caught.”

“Alright…George can look them up and Jacob sends his love Marriott. He’s worried about you, he’s been editing some of the footage you’ve been sending and…well he’s concerned about you.”

Marriott ached when she thought of Jacob, god she missed him. But she couldn’t think of him now, she had to a job to finish.

“Look Marriott, I know being undercover is hard, but I’ve got faith in you and your judgement. You can nail this place, get us the pictures we need and we can take them and their whole organisation down.”

“Thanks Yann.” Marriott rang off and drove back to her flat brooding. She’d have to break into Cotton’s office and soon, the records had to be there or at least it was a place to start. She’d wait until the afternoon, maybe even the evening as he’d be gone by then. How she’d break in, she’d worry about that at the time.

The following day arrived. She checked up on Ben and Mac and Morgan. Morgan still refused to speak to her. Ben had a new black eye, she tried to ask him about it, but he refused to talk and Mac…Mac was quiet. He just sat on the bed and stared into space, on the plus side, she’d managed to talk Dr Cotton into removing the restraints. But that was all. Cotton eventually departed for the day. Marriott made her way to the corridor and found the office again a small bag slung over her shoulder, she checked up and down and found it blissfully empty. She rummaged around in her pockets and pulled out a paperclip and bent it out in a 90 degree angle and inserted it into the lock, after a couple of minutes of carefully twisting, she felt the door ease open. It was a strange contrast to the rundown hospital, one wall was dominated by filing cabinets, the other with a beautiful old book shelf cover in strange art deco lines and filled with medical text books and the desk had Julius Caesar bust on it, how random. Maybe Cotton had grand thoughts about being an emperor Marriott thought sniggering. It for all intensive purposes did look like an office though, albeit an overly posh one. She raced inside, first thing was first, she had to bug the place. She found the plug socket and pulled out her knife, she speedily undid the screws with her knife and pulled the plastic cover, she replaced it with one she was carrying in her bag. Deftly she made the swap and then went for the files, yanking open the cabinets, interestingly they weren’t locked. It was an indicator of how confident Cotton was, no one would dare open them without his permission so why lock them. She grabbed Ben’s first, and read through it at speed, nothing out of the ordinary, treatment records, his ‘condition’, it was very all very normal. 

She went through it with Morgan and then Mac and they were all the same, records, medications, when they had been admitted. She saw to her horror that Mac had been with them for almost a year. But there was nothing she could use she ran through the files again, scanning for anything useful she could find, then she spotted it, on every third page for each person there was a serious of tiny letters – FRGHA and numbers, barely seeable, but there, a code?? She took pictures of all of each page that had the FRGHA and a random number on 3171, 3173 and so on them and started to look around the rest of the office, looking for hidden records, a hidden door, something . She ran her fingers across the filing cabinets around his desk, she even tapped her feet on various, bits of the floor thinking there would be a loose bit or some cubby hole. But nothing, finally she approached the bookcase that took up one side of the room, surely not there? It was so cheesy? So terribly James Bond villain. But she had to try everything, she ran her fingers along every book in the shelf, but nothing?? Surely it had to be there, she started skimming the letters again FRGHA, maybe it stood for something, it was a code? Marriott’s heart was pounding in her chest, she was running out of time and wasn’t sure when she’d be able to get back here. Marriott went up to the bookshelf again and carefully pulled out every book and then she saw it, a key pad in the middle of the wall, interestingly it was filled with letters rather than numbers, so it was a name rather than a word? Okay progress of a kind, now to figure it out, it had to be something to do with the FRGHA on the files? She went back the still open files and stared at them for what seemed like forever, then it happened when she was staring at the pretentious little bust on Cotton’s desk….a Caesar cipher?

Was it really that obvious? Marriott wanted to squeal. She scrabbled around in her pockets again and found a biro and started scribbling numbers and letters on her hand and up her arm. She worked it out the FRGHA did stand for something…CODEX? Codex ??? Who or What was Codex? Something to figure out later, she went to the keep pad and breathed; now or never. She typed the letters in and heard a strange creek and one section of the bookcase seemed to come out, the bookcase split in two, she hooked fingers onto one side and pulled. The door or shelves opened into a tiny dusty room, filled with records, Marriott had to fight a coughing fit as she entered. She picked up the first file she found, no name just 3179 on it, she opened, no names, just weird descriptions ‘patient is a political agitator, causes serious trouble to regime. Recommend electric therapy and drug regime to reduce memory and capacity. Patient has been in care for three months, no progress, drugs include oxytosin…” Then it went into a detailed description of a horrifying cocktail that would basically damage someone’s brain, permanently if they were on it longer and some initials.

Marriott also registered the number, the numbers from the filing cabinets, they must be clues to who they really are in the ‘genuine files’. Marriott started going through the files in earnest, despite the lack of names, there were incredibly detailed descriptions of what people had done; some were scientists, researchers, even the odd teacher. Finally she found Mac’s file ‘patient is agitator and long term problem. Regular doses of ECT and physical beating will reduce problems and reshape’ Marriott wanted to vomit, god Mac what had they done to you? She was also deeply curious to what an agitator was? She read on, ‘worked for off books government organisation, highly dangerous and threatening.’ This was very different to the Mac she remembered, had he really changed so much since they’d known each other? She went through the rest finding Morgan and Ben’s files looking at the bizarre descriptions, Marriott’s brain clicked into gear. Ben had been a whistle-blower in Europe for a large company, Morgan an activist advocating woman’s rights. They had both been missing for years; most people thought Morgan had been killed. That was why she didn’t recognise them! The story was years old. She stayed in Cotton’s office for perhaps another 10 minutes taking as many pictures as she could, there was still nothing on the financial side. But surely this was enough to nail them, this would satisfy her boss at least. She had to find the other stuff too, but she’d look elsewhere for that. She came out of the office, pushed the monster bookshelf back into place and put the files away at speed. She snuck her head out the door and did a quick peek, no one in site. She came out very slowly, carefully shutting the door, she didn’t look up for a few seconds, a potentially fatal mistake.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is really an excuse for extra whump, Mac does his best to help our heroine and pays a nasty price for it... .

Tristan had been wheeling Mac around a corner in a wheelchair, he was barely conscious, his newly healed hand was wrapped around his newly broken ribs and his nose was bleeding. One of his latest ‘sessions’, Severin thank god had not been there, but it just gave Tristan an excuse to go town on him again. He kicked his chest repeatedly and his back and punched him in the face. He also felt that maybe one of his ankles was broken or twisted, the pain was shooting up it. Mac was just happy that Tristan hadn’t broken his hand again, he’d tried his best to make it look less healed, keeping it hidden in the folds of his clothes. Tristan was barely paying attention as he wheeled Mac along with one hand, knocking him this way and that. His other hand was on his phone, absorbed. That was perhaps why Mac registered Marriott and Tristan did not, he opened his eyes only for a moment and then he saw her sneaking out of an office, doing something she obviously shouldn’t. Mac took a split-second decision, he heaved himself out of his wheelchair and onto his feet. He rounded on Tristan and threw all his might behind a right hook, Tristan was so shocked that Mac had fought back that he didn’t have time to block the punch, instead he staggered backwards.

However he recovered quickly and pushed Mac to the floor as Mac went down, he saw that Marriott was no longer in vision, he done his job, he collapsed as Tristan’s feet made contact with his ribs. MacGyver coughed blood onto the floor and just waited for the pain to stop as he so often did these days, then he heard a familiar voice and wanted to groan, he thought she was safe!

“What the hell is going on here?” Marriott stormed forward. Mac was now at her feet, bleeding heavily

“Patient was getting upppty, tried to attack me, miss.” Tristan grunted

“Last I checked we don’t beat patients for being ‘uppty’, this is a hospital after all isn’t it? And remember it’s Doctor.” Marriott knelt down.

“Can you hear me? It’s Doctor Kauffman. Can you open your eyes??” Mac bleerily opened his eyes.

“You’re safe…” he murmured and then shut his eyes again. 

Marriott gently lifted Mac back into the wheelchair and forced it out of Tristan’s hands. She wheeled Mac away, gently as she could. She went back to the room initially picking up a few medical supplies along the way. He didn’t really object, he could barely keep awake. The doc was fine, that was all that matter, he’d protected her longer to keep her away from Tristan. Marriott lifted up the orange t-shirt he wore and wrapped bandages around his broken ribs. She wrapped a bandage around his foot, thankfully that wasn’t broken. She also dabbed his bloodied face, until most of it was gone. Slowly his brain kicked into gear again, she was different from everyone there, she radiated calm and was never brutal with him, never hurt him, she never asked him to do anything or questioned him at all. He looked up at her

“I hope you’re okay?” he asked

“Me, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because…I mean I saw you…coming out of that office. If Tristan had seen you, he would have hurt you…I thought I…Never mind....I should have known...I don’t know anything...I just..ignore me...I don’t know anything...I never knew anything” Mac stammered 

Marriott groaned “So that’s what happened? Did you hit him? Is that why he went for you? Oh God…”

Mac suddenly felt very ashamed as if he had done something horribly wrong. He hadn’t meant to upset her or annoy her. He thought he was helping her, he thought…he didn’t really know, he’d wanted to protect her. He knew Tristan was horrible! He hadn’t wanted her to come under Tristan’s fists, she’d been so nice to him. But of course she wouldn’t have....she was a doctor, an actual person, who helped people, not like him.... Now he was going to get in trouble again, all the kindness would end. Mac put his head in his hands. She knelt down next to him.

“ Look, I appreciate you helping me, truly I do. But I can take of myself, I promise you that. I’m quite good at getting myself out of trouble.”

“Then you’re not angry ??”

“Of course not. I…I think we need to have a talk, away from these four walls.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mac and Marriott have a chat and there is a lot of whump. Feedback and comments welcome...

“What do you mean? Away from these walls?” Mac twitched, although he loved the idea of potentially escaping somewhere else with this doctor, he also knew every time he left them, something horrible happened to him. It was true that horrible things happened to him in this room too, but it was always much worse outside. Staying inside tended to be safer, or at least painful.

“Maybe I can take you for a walk in the fields outside the hospital, tell Cotton it will you do some good. You can hardly run away with that ankle and I want to try and keep Tristan away from you. I know how he beats you and the other patients and other patients; it’s just this is the first I’ve caught him at it. “

Mac stared at her, he couldn’t believe she was acknowledging any of this, it was true of course. When he’d occasionally been let out, he’d seen some of the other patients supporting injuries similar to his, bruises and cuts or marks from restraints, they’d been in for days on end. He’d try to help them in the past, when one of the women had stumbled because her feet had been cut, he’d caught her before she’d crashed to floor. But it had done no good, when he’d gotten back to his own room, the nurse who had taken him there slapped his so hard, that’d he cut his lip and when the woman had smiled at him and murmured a thank you the following day, the guards had dragged her away screaming. Severin visited him that night and asked him the same questions again, Tristan had been there with a cattle prod to prompt his answers, of course he’d long given up talking so just took the abuse and he was reminded again and again that he was broken and destructive. Helping others never worked, when he’d tried to help people it got them hurt.

“Don’t say anything about Tristan…it’s not worth doing, I mean he’s a nurse, he works here. He’s…important and helps people. I mean…what he does. It’s part of what he does, I…I”

Mac stammered slightly “I deserve what I get…I’m supposed to be here and Tristan that’s just part of it. I’m a danger to other people...that’s why I’m here alone.” He stopped staring at his feet. This was the first time, he’d actually said any of the lessons Severin, Tristan and the other nurses had drilled into him. He was initially relieved to say it, it had spinning around his head for so many weeks that finally getting it out was…a kind of weight off his chest because she was nice and kind and maybe would understand. He finally looked up her and saw a look of absolute horror on her face, she backed a step away from him, then the shame hit him again. Of course, she would be disgusted, by his… his confession…. he was broken and useless. He’d only been trying to explain, and it had come out wrong and now she’d go away and all her sweetness would be gone and and…Mac put his head in his hands and found tears rolling down his face.

He speedily wiped away the tears because he knew they wouldn’t help, he heaved himself out of the wheelchair and onto the bed. He manoeuvred himself onto the bed, leaning his back against the wall and pushing himself into a corner, his eyes returned to his hands

“Look just leave, I promise not to make any noise tonight.”

Marriott’s heart broke, she came forward and perched on the side of the bed. She pushed the sections that normally encased the bed down and took hold of Mac’s hands and squeezed them in hers gently.

“Look at me…look at me please. I want to say something, and I want you to really hear me…please just look at me. You. Do. Not. Deserve. Any. Of. This.”

Mac stared at her once again. Something about that scar on her left hand was familiar to him, he knew someone who had a scar just like that, he was sure of it. He tried to bring it to mind, but it just brought pain, he pulled his hands away from her and rubbed his eyes.

“Please look at me and hear me. You don’t deserve any of this at all, no one does, no one here does. Something is horribly wrong in this place.” Marriott paused how much should she reveal? Would it get him in more trouble? Screw it, he needed the comfort now otherwise he’d snap in two and she didn’t want to think about what would happen then…

“I’m going to bring this place down, I swear to you. I am….I promise you. All these crazy people in here, all these monsters who have been tormented you. This sorry excuse for a hospital, I II I’m going to burn it all down.”

Mac looked at her, he so desperately wanted to believe her. To hope that the world beyond this place was less cruel, somehow, she spoke with such passion. He didn’t really know what to say to it, he was just happy, she didn’t seem to hate him or think he was worthless. He simply said

“So you’re not going to leave? You’re not going to abandon me…”

“No…I won’t abandon you….I promise you, I’m going to get you out of this place.” And then for the first since she had been there Marriott saw Mac smile, it was a half-hearted smile downwards, but a smile none-the-less. Hope, it was there! Buried, but not entirely gone. Her mind moved onto more practical things, she made to get up

“Do you think you can sleep?” she asked him

“ I um…I” Mac didn’t really know how to say, he didn’t really sleep properly, not fully, it was either a fitful sleep or drugged passed out sleep. Luckily he didn’t have too.

“No worries, I’ll stay with you, until you do. If anyone comes in, I’ll tell them, I’m trying out some kind of therapy or something, although I doubt it. Let me just drag this chair over and push the wheelchair away ” She moved away from him and he grabbed her hand on instinct. She gently pulled it off …

“Hey, hey, hey I said, I’m not going anywhere….I’m just moving a chair next to the bed I can sneak into, if anyone comes in.” She then did what she promised, pulling the one plastic chair that was in the room next to the bed. Then she sat herself back onto the bed and heaved her own legs on it and leaned against the back wall in a position similar to Mac’s.

“See…not going anywhere….I had maybe thought sitting cross legged, but the bed’s not really bigger enough for that and with your twisted ankle, I didn’t want you to move it.” Marriott realised she rambling and abruptly shut her mouth. Mac didn’t quite know what to say to her. They sat there in awkward silence for a few minutes. Marriott was not overly fond of silence broke it first.

“So do you want me to talk…I mean I can, but if you’d prefer if we just sat here that’s fine. But I’m not sure…I can talk too…if you’d like, if you think that would help you relax.”

“I...I’ve not really spoken to anyone in a long time. But I mean talking is fine….but the guards, they get angry if you make too much noise and I wouldn’t want them to you know do anything to you…” Mac responded

“So that’s how you got the black eye and the broken hand the first week I got here then?” Marriott said. Mac raised an eyebrow, he was surprised she’d even remembered.

“Okay, talking, but in a low voice, I can do that.” Marriott searched her brain for a conversation topic, she so desperately wanted to call Mac by his name and chat to him about things she knew he’d like and see how much he remembered from all those years ago, but she was worried with his clearly broken head that that might cause him more harm than good. So she settled on an old stalwart; books, books she could always talk about.

“Did you ever read, the Long Way to a Small Angry Planet? I just re-read it recently. The plot is a mess, but the language is just wonderful, I’d forgotten how much I loved it…they style is just..” so Marriott rambled on going into details of the plot and the descriptions and characters. Mac sat and listened to her, he occasionally stole a glance at her as she enthused, her voice was calming and so familiar in the back of his brain. He was so tired…he just wanted to sleep. As the night wore on and Marriott chatted, always keeping the volume to a minimum. He found himself nodding off, slowly but surely, he fell asleep, his head on her shoulder.

Marriott registered the weight on her shoulder and Mac’s gentle snoring, she was relieved, he sounded like he was sleeping properly. She desperately wanted real sleep herself but didn’t want to wake him. So she shut her eyes and lent her head against the wall, her phone was still in her pocket and would wake her in plenty of time. Her own head rested on his and they fell asleep soundly together. In the end Marriott didn’t need her phone, the sun woke her first. She opened her eyes and registered Mac still asleep on her, gently she eased him off and laid him onto the bed. She was halfway off the bed when the movement woke Mac up and he panicked, he sat up and grabbed her hand again.

“Hey, hey it’s fine. I need to disappear for a little while, but I promise I’ll be back later today.” He shook his head, desperate for her not to leave.

“If I stay, we’ll both get into trouble…” Marriott responded. She pulled her free hand out and dug around in her pocket, she managed to find the remains of the hanky that she had used in that first week to fix his hand. It was now sown up, but still serviceable.

“Look take this, it’s mine…it’s a talisman…know that I’ll come back for it and you.” Marriott said pushing the hanky into his hand. She gently pulled her hand away from him, he nodded at her and held it.

“Please try and go back to sleep, I give you my word I’ll come back.” Marriott pleaded with him. Afterwards, she made for the door as quietly as she could, she gave him a last smile, opened the door, did a quick peak out and was gone. Mac stared at the shut door for a while and then laid his head back on the bed, he turned away from the door to stare at the grey wall, the hanky still in his hand.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marriott schemes and Mac dreams. 
> 
> We get a few hints of these two's history together and Mac after a year of hell finds the strength to fight back. Feedback and comments welcome :)

Marriott made her way through the hospital, hiding behind doors and in cupboards to avoid people. She didn’t have the brain power to try and explain why she had been at the hospital all night when she wasn’t suppose to. She was lucky and encountered no one she knew, she even managed to get to the back door of the hospital to avoid the many cameras at the front entrance. Eventually she fell into her car and drove home, thoughts of Mac and Tristan still swirling in her brain and recording devices of course. She dragged herself into her crappy little flat, barely awake and switched on the corresponding device for the surveillance equipment she’d left in Cotton’s office, checked her watch, 11 am – surely Cotton would be there? She switched on and pulled some headphones, god she was tired, but she had to transcribe it. She listened in, Dr Cotton was dull even just in audio. Nothing useful came out of the first morning, just phone calls to medical companies, talking to nurses (not Tristan), he rambled on. When took a break around lunch time, Marriott stopped and transferred all the photos she had taken over to a spare flash drive and the new video, she skimmed through it and stopped it just before Tristan grabbed him. She could Yann’s voice in her yelling at her about journalistic neutrality, but she ignored it, she would not use Mac’s trauma for this story. She’d made a vow a long time ago that she would not sacrifice her family or her friends for her career and Mac was included in that list, even if they hadn’t spoken in what was it 10 years? He was part of that list.

She stopped scribbling and lay on the bed, how was she going to get Ben and the rest of them out of there? How was she going to get the finance stuff she needed? So many questions, she didn’t have much time. Yann would pull her out eventually, the agency didn’t have the resources to keep on this and getting the patients out hadn’t been part of the plan? If she didn’t do this right, she could destroy the agency as well. If they were remotely connected to it anyway their reputation could be wrecked and her own career would be ruined and she wouldn’t be able to save Mac and the others. She dragged herself up again and began to listen again determined to find a way to get everyone out of this. As the hours of audio played on, Marriott listened, transcribing like mad, looking for anything that could give her away in to this horrible place and of course a away, she was starting to lose focus again when a reference woke up

“Oh yes this new doctor, Dr Kauffman, she seems very conscienscous , a little slow, but seems to care about them all a lot. What bring her in? No I think that isn’t wise Severin, yes I think she’s slow, but manipulatable? I mean maybe, bring her in on one of the sessions Are you sure that’s wise, yes I know need new people to make this work. We don’t know enough about her. I mean yes Severin….yes I know what we’re doing is important, I know we’re helping people ”

Marriott listened on, the conversation lasted another 3 minutes, who was Severin? Sessions? Finally a breakthrough, some hint at the inner circle of this place? The discussion of the sessions continued, how treatment had to keep going, all very vague, but a clue none-the-less. She pulled the headphones off her ears after the conversation was over, she was slow was she mmmh, what an arse hole! Marriott looked at her phone and saw a dozen missed messages from Cotton, she knew she’d missed work today and would have to come up with some kind of excuse that didn’t get her or Mac into trouble and avoid Tristan too. Her exhausted brain started to click into gear and a plan started to form. 

**

After Marriott left him, Mac stared at the wall for a long time, her handkerchief still grasped in his hand. He was so confused by the doctor, some part of him didn’t really know if he could trust her even after everything she had done for him. Part of his brain still told him he was worthless, broken and he would fuck up whatever he had with her, that he didn’t deserve her help. He looked at the handkerchief turning it around in his hand, she had neatly sewed it up again, after helping him and there was something so terribly familiar about her, had he known before this place? No surely not, there was no before this place. This was all he was, he had to be fixed because he was in pieces, everything about him. His body ached, the bruises across his legs armed ached so badly, his ankle was twisted and shot pain up him every time he tried to move. He wished she would come back, all his pain seemed to fade when she talked to him, he didn’t even really remember what she had said to him, just that it was calming and she seemed so enthusiastic about it, could she really get him of here? Sleep overcame Mac again as his head was filled with thoughts of Marriott and her potential rescue,

_“Mac what have you done? We’ve gotta go!’ Marriott screeched at him as they looked at his experiment starting to implode._

_Mac’s brilliant idea had gone very wrong, it was bubbling over, chemicals started to pour out onto the floor of the lab_

_Mac watched fascinated and the chemical substances bubbled and increased in size, even when their lives were at risk, he was still absorbed._

_“Dude, you’ve seriously messed this up, I mean you’ve done something wrong! I think this is going to blow!” Bozer said, Marriott grabbed Mac’s hand and the trio raced out of the side science lab, pushing out onto the football field. The strength of the explosion threw them in the air. Marriott grabs Mac tight, holding him in her arms_

_The next thing Mac remembered was the three of them on the other side of the burning football field, they are all dazed, bits of plant in their hair, covered in dust. There is fire and everywhere…Marriott is next to them, blood coming out of her hand screaming_

Mac tossed and turned as images of ‘Marriott’ screaming in agony tormented his head, the scene played out again and again, slower and slower. Who was Marriott? Why did she look like Dr Kauffman? He could see her face weeping and blood pouring down her hand, who was the other kid with them? It was also familiar, why was he seeing this scene? He wasn’t a teenager anymore, he couldn’t remember anything, he kept trying to remember, but pain shot through his head. He continued to move on the bed, twisting the sheets around him

“No no! Marriott!” Mac sat up and shouted her name, her handkerchief still squished in his hand. It was an ill-timed outburst because Tristan and another nurse walked in.

“Look who’s awake!” Tristan said snorting at Mac “And who is Marriott I wonder?”

Mac immediately shrank back, balling up the handkerchief in his hand. He pressed his back against the wall of his room as if to try and disappear away from Tristan.

“No, no, you can’t get away from me that easily.” Tristan move towards the bed his arms folded as Mac squirmed away from him, the other nurse grabbed the wheelchair that Marriott had pushed aside the previous night. Tristan grabbed one of Mac’s arms and attempted to heave him into the wheelchair, Mac responded by grabbing the rail on the other side of the bed and holding on. He kicked out with his non-damaged foot, winding the other nurse who came at him. His hand was still gripped out the hanky, Tristan kept his grip on his arm, but Mac through out his clenched his fist in a punch managing to catch Tristan in his jaw. The other nurse lay winded on the floor, Mac managed to drag himself up even with a twisted foot and limped towards the door as fast as he could. Tristan caught him just as he reached it.

“No what the hell do you think you’re doing.” Tristan said slamming Mac into the door with every word. He grabbed Mac’s arms and twisted them behind his back.

“What do we have here?” Tristan said intrigued as the balled fists

“Come on open up…” Tristan teased as he tried to unclench Mac’s tightened hands

“Fine. Hard way” He grabbed one of his wrists and twisted it hard, Mac yelped and let go. The hanky floated to the floor.

“What is this?” Tristan grinned picking it up still keeping a firm grip of Mac’s wrist.

Mac stayed silent, he tried to reach out and grab it, but Tristan kept a tight hold of him.

“Come on answer me” Tristan taunted again, pushing him against the door. Again Mac said nothing, his foot was throbbing and his wrists ached. But he gritted his teeth, Marriott’s words echoing his brain

“You don’t deserve this. I’m going to get you out of here.” 

All he had to do was hold out, she would come back for him. He had to hold out against whatever they would throw at him. The doubts he had still swirled in his head, but he pushed them aside, he just had to hold out, that was it. Tristan and the other nurse pulled him into the wheel chair, restraining his wrists, Mac pushed back against them, ignoring the pain shooting up his wrists and foot.

“Seriously, what the fuck has gotten into you? Where’s all this fight come from? ” Tristan said as he pushed back into the chair again and again

“Don’t tell me it’s that doctor? The one who ‘saved you’, she’s just some ignorant fucking nobody, you know that right? She’d have to be to think you were worth saving. She’s not goanna help you.” Tristan said

Macgyver looked into the eyes of the man who had tormented him for months and spat at him. Tristan smiled as he wiped the spit away

“Fine, you want to play that way? Fine. She’s not going to save you again, you’re going to hurt her. She’ll abandon you, like everyone else, you’ll break her in two Mr Norris.”

Mac flinched at that name, some part of him knew it was wrong, that wasn’t who he was. He spat at Tristan again, some part of his brain was fighting back against all the torment, all the monstrosity. His memories weren’t coming back exactly, but his mind didn’t feel quite so smashed anymore. Tristan just sniggered again and gestured to his fellow nurse. Mac felt a sharp pain in his neck and then it all went black.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short update in which Mac shows that for all his intelligence, his weakness is always people and his desire to protect them, even those he barely remembers... (this is quite dark, so if you’re not into that skip!)

Mac woke up lying down, his hands were restrained and so were his feet. He moved them tentatively and felt pain shoot up one of them, yep it was still twisted, possibly broken. He lifted his head up as far as he could and took in his surroundings, he wasn’t in the room he slept in, he wasn’t in the basement that he’d been dragged to so many times in the last few months. He was somewhere quite new, it was clinical, cold and frankly very clean. The rest of the hospital was dusty and had a weird smell in the air, this place smelled too, but mostly of disinfectant and dodgy air freshner. He looked down, the prison scrubs were gone, now he was dressed in pure white scrubs, like a proper patient he thought bitterly. There was one electric light above his head, all in all he didn’t like where this was going.

His head ached from whatever drugs they had given him, and his brain was in a horribly fuzzy state again, when the doc had been with him it had been startingly clear for the first time in weeks, months even. But now everything seemed jumbled again. He started to fidget, tugging at the restraints partly to get them loose but also to trying and keep himself losing conscious. He yanked hard at the restraint on his left, he could feel the leather tearing slightly, if he could just get it free….

Unfortunately, Severin and Tristan and yet another unknown nurse or henchman walked in at that point

“Hello Mr Norris, we seem very active today, don’t we?” Severin smiling at him upside down

“Stop calling me that…” Mac responded through gritted teeth

“Why, what should we call you then?” Severin amused by this new aggression and fight. It was something new to mould in his patient

At this point, Mac still didn’t have answer, he could feel his name somewhere in his memory, his real name…it was somehow floating just out of reach. He simply grunted at Severin in response.

“I didn’t think so. So I think I shall call you Mr Norris as I have done in all our previous time together. Tristan tells me you’ve developed an attachment to one of the doctors here.” Severin said still smiling.

Mac stared at the ceiling, determined not to give anything away. He would have just have to wait this out as he had done with every other bit of hell he’d gone through in the last few months.

“Deary me…so unresponsive. I thought we were passed this. I want to talk more about this doctor you seem to be so fond of her. There’s this..” Severin says pulling the handkerchief and waving it front of Mac’s face, instinctively Mac tries to grab it, rage filling him that the one thing he’s got that isn’t poison is being used to taunt him.

“So it belongs to her, I see.” Severin said grinning inanely down at Mac, this upside down vision was starting to make him feel ill. Mac spat at him, partly because he couldn’t do anything else to Severin.

For the first time during the conversation Severin lost his smirk. He wiped away the spit from his face, handkerchief still in his other hand. He gestured to Tristan and Mac felt a punch to the ribs and a right hook to his face. Mac felt blood in his mouth after Tristan made contact he spat out on his chest and waited. His stubbornness kicking in with vengeance.

“Fine, so that’s your attitude. Clearly this doctor means something to you. Where did you get this then? Did you steal it? Are you developing a little obsession with our new doctor?” Severin said waving the handkerchief in front of his face

Mac remained silent, he stared at the ceiling counting the tiles. He forced his mind onto something else other than Severin’s irritating high-pitched squealing voice. Severin got visibly more annoyed and gestured to Tristan again, this time Mac got a punch from other side, he felt his ribs crack. He grunted from the pain but stayed silent, part of his brain didn’t really know why, maybe it was the fact that someone cared about him, even in his broken form, someone wanted to watch out for him even after everything. The doc’s words still echoed in his head “You don’t deserve this. I’m going to get you out of here.” The blows to the stomach continued for sometime. Mac remained silent, grinding his teeth as his top half started to hurt more and more. Eventually Severin moved the thugs away from him and stared at Mac the right way up.

“So you aren’t going to talk, so be it. I think perhaps we need to get the good doctor in here, maybe she would be more compliant. Maybe she can tell me what you talked about?? Mmmh, what did she say to you that’s made you so…fiery…Maybe Tristan should talk to her? I’m sure they’d have a very interesting conversation, particularly after she told him off for protecting you. I think she might live to regret that or…not” Severin said, malice dripping on every word.  
  
Mac reacted immediately, dragging himself up as far as he could

“No! Wait..I…I did steal it. I don’t know, it was just nice to hold something that wasn’t medical scrubs or or a gown..She doesn’t know me. She was just being nice to me when she took me away from Tristan. She didn’t know any better, she thought she was helping me…but she wasn’t. She wasn’t, I know…I know I’m broken…I know my mind is broken and it needs fixing. I swear to you she doesn’t know anything at all. She looks after all the patients, she’s nice to all of them. That’s it.’ Mac fell back on the table breathless with the effort, his ribs were on fire. But he had to do something, this doctor whoever she was didn’t deserve his fate, she’d done nothing to deserve it, she did seem to like all the patients, she always smiled at them in the corridors and spoke to them, he’d seen it! She should keep doing that, keeping help them…even if he couldn’t be saved…she was clearly a good person…she should be protected even if that meant he didn’t get out of here. Severin smiled, he had gotten the reaction he wanted.

“So, you want to protect her, that’s good. You remember what you are…that’s also good. But I think you need to be reminded a little more. Tristan if you wouldn’t mind.”

At this point Tristan pulled two electrodes out on Mac’s head and placed them on either side. Mac started to resist on auto pilot, but then Severin said

“Now Mr Norris, you don’t want the good doctor to have to deal with this do you? She’s not broken like you? Surely not? I don’t want resistance, you should know that by now. You know what you are...let me hear it.”

“Broken, inside and out, my mind doesn’t work. My body doesn’t. My hands don’t work. I need to be fixed. I need to be remade.”

“Again...Mr Norris.”

“Broken, inside and out, my mind doesn’t work. My body doesn’t. My hands don’t work. I need to be fixed. I need to be remade.”

“Again..”

“Broken, inside and out, my mind doesn’t work…”

This horrible chant continued as mac lent back on the table and stopped resisting, he kept murmuring the chant as Tristan put a gag in his mouth to stop him from breaking his teeth. As he heard the machine switch on, he stopped and shut his eyes, when the electricity and pain hit his head, he screamed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this was written for Day 8 of @whumptober2020, In this part Mac is locked in a white room after an overdose of ECT and nothing but his own thoughts and he starts to spiral...Feedback is very much appreciated, let me know what you think.  
> No 8. WHERE DID EVERYBODY GO? “Don’t Say Goodbye” | Abandoned | Isolation

Mac screamed and screamed when the electricity went through his head. The session with the ECT had never lasted as long before. They pumped so much of the stuff into his mind that he got a nose bleed and went hoarse. At one point they put a gag in his mouth as Severin worried that he might scream the place down or bite his tongue (a rare moment of charity). When Tristan pulled the electrodes away from his head, Mac couldn’t think anymore. There was pain everywhere, everything hurt, even blinking hurt, how could blinking hurt? He couldn’t see straight or really walk. When Tristan undid the restraints he didn’t react, his stilling healing hand twitched a bit and that was all, he didn’t react when Tristan dragged his body off the table and into a waiting wheel chair.

As the wheelchair began to move, he reacted a little bit, he twitched trying to move, but Tristan pushed him firmly back into the wheelchair. The fight in him was all gone, he was just confused all over again

“Where are you taking me??” Mac asked

“What happened? Why am I here?”

“You had another session, Mr Norris. You became violent, you had an extra dose of ECT, doctors orders. Don’t you remember?”

Mac shook his head

“Your doctor said you needed it, to calm you, to help with your depression. Do you remember?”

Mac shook his head again, god his head ached, his whole body ached. He rubbed his eyes trying to recall something, anything from the past few days. He remembered Tristan and Severin and the abuse they gave him, everything they had drilled into him, but that had been in his head for months. What else?? He just got stabbing pains when he tried to recall, his heart felt like it was going at hyper speed as well. He just sat with his head in his hands as Tristan wheeled him along, willing his memories to come, but they of course didn’t. Tristan stopped at a large reinforced door with a small window at the top, he pushed Mac to move and stand up which he did awkwardly.

Tristan took the huge set of keys on his belt and opened the door, it was a white room, and padded everywhere. He pushed Mac into, Mac groaned as he fell forward on his wrecked foot, he sat up pleading with Tristan

“Why are you putting me in here? What have I done?”

“This is the doctors orders, isolation so you can recover.”

“Wait, please. I’m sure, I don’t need to be here, I can recover in my room, please. I’ll behave, I promise. I won’t do anything to upset or anger anyone.” Mac forced himself up and tried to move towards the door, but Tristan pushed him back once again, Mac fell on his back with a cry of pain, twisting his foot further. Tristan followed him into the room

“Look, you behave and you’ll be out of here in no time. But if you don’t, your visit is going to be extended. You understand??” Tristan walked slowly towards Mac, Mac responded by dragging himself back and resting his back against the wall, he nodded furiously at Tristan, too frightened and in too much pain to say anything. Tristan smiled down at Mac, pushed up against a corner, turned around, as he got to the door Mac risked one question

“Who put me in? Please tell me.”

“Dr Kauffman, she’s new, she said it would help you.” With that Tristan left and slammed the door behind mind, locking the rusty old lock. Then Mac was alone.

Dr Kauffman? The young doctor? Why would she? He’d spoken to her? All his memories were so fuzzy. She’d be kind to him, though why would she send her him here? Why? What had he done to her? He must have done something to be sent here. He always did something wrong, something in his was broken, he’d heard that so often in the past year. He was broken inside and out, he needed to be fixed? Should he be fixed? Could he be fixed? Was he really so poisonous? He must be, that’s why the young doctor sent him here, because he’d acted out, because of his depression. Depression that was a funny word, considering what it meant.

Mac looked up and around, the room was very white…well grey was more accurate. It looked like it had been used in while, most of the padding had a layer of dust on it. He sneezed, his body tensing, he lifted his foot involuntarily and groaned. The stitching on some parts of the padding was going too, like it hadn’t been replaced in a long time. It did not make Mac feel any better about where he was. He hated the idea of being stuck down here; alone. But of course he was alone and it was for his own benefit or so Tristan said, but then Tristan was…Tristan was cruel, he’d always been cruel, for as long Mac’s damaged memory lasted, Tristan had always been vicious. The beatings, the taunts, Tristan seemed to revel in the torture of him…him, he couldn’t even remember his own name. Tristan and Severin called him Mr Norris, but...was that even right? It felt wrong somehow. Mac thought he should be able to remember his own name, a name was an important part of you? Surely, a name your family gave you, it was something you were born with, a name your father gave you or your mother.

Mac tried to think of his family, but it just produced more pain in his head. Nothing was there, just blackness, surely he must have a family? Or had one? Were they the ones that sent him here? Was he that broken that his own family had abandoned him? No, it couldn’t be abandoned, he was broken, that was the doctors had told him, broken inside and out, broken inside and out, that was why he was here. His family left him because…well because they didn’t want him. And who would want him? He couldn’t even remember his own name, his own anything. He wondered if he would even know his family now or if they would know him?

If he could fix himself maybe his family would take him back? Wasn’t that what Severin said? that he could remake him? Maybe he could fix himself and it would make him better and not so…in pieces and then people would start wanting him again and would stop leaving him. Everyone had left him, how else could he have ended up here, in a white room all by himself. His mind drifted to the young doctor again, had she really put him in here? What had he done to make her so angry at him that she had left him too? He must have done something, maybe he said something or didn’t say something at the right time. Maybe he had somehow managed to upset her. She'd been so kind to him, he looked at his hand, she’d fixed that for him, he’d could remember that. She’d been so gentle, so soft with him, but maybe that was what she was like with all the patients, that must be it of course. She was a doctor after all, she was doing her job, there wasn’t anything special about her treatment of him. He didn’t mean anything to her…although her kindness had been nice, maybe if he was good, she’d be nice to him again or he could make her like him even? He’d like to have a friend in this place or at least someone who wasn’t disgusted by him.

He could swear that he had had more than one conversation with her, they’d spoken again after she’d fixed his hand? If only he could remember, he’d at least be able to understand something! Anything, he missed that, understanding things, he like knowing stuff or at least he thought he did. He used to be able to fix things, he could fix anything he recalled, obviously not himself though…he couldn’t fix that. That’s why he was here after all….maybe if he was really good and really quiet, he remembered that Tristan and the other guards hated noise, they would come back and get him, then he could speak to the nice lady doctor again and apologise for whatever mistake he had made. Maybe he could fix that….

One thing was that everyone had abandoned him, even his tormenters, in this white room, Tristan was gone and so was Severin, there was no punches or cattle prods, no anything really. Just whiteness and dust…Mac decided he liked the whiteness after all, even the broken stitching. He could be okay with all that, maybe this isolation was a good thing? It was quiet after all, no one here, absolutely no one to talk to him or ask him questions. Just four walls and his broken head to keep him company.

As the hours passed Mac’s confused mind stared at the walls, he started counting the lines of the stitching, 227 in all, although he couldn’t count each stich, his eyes weren’t good enough for that. Each of the lines seemed different from the next, like they had a personality, like they were saying hello to him in a slightly different way. Mac was glad of the company of the lines, they weren’t very judgy or cruel. They didn’t say mean things to him, they just said hello and that was that, he said hello back a couple of times and it was quiet. The room also got colder, Mac pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around himself to try and keep warm. He couldn’t remember being this cold before…he didn’t like being cold, it made his foot worse and his head .

He managed to himself onto his side and make the ball tighter, he shut his eyes and told himself. I can fix this, I will, I’ll fix it so they like me again, so they won’t leave me again, I’ll be good and make myself anew, I’ll fix all the broken bits and put them back together so they won’t be angry any more, I can fix this, I will, I’ll fix it so they like me again, so they won’t leave me again. He repeated it again and again until he drifted off into an uncomfortable, shivering sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mac's head is further broken by the ECT....his memories are super messed up basically and our heroine is powerless to do anything about it.

While Mac endured yet more pain, Marriott had got to work. She called up Cotton and did her best grovelling on the phone pleading a family emergency, she’d even a managed a few tears and begged for a meeting with him citing something very important she had to discuss with him. Cotton had been delighted by this shift as his new junior doctor seemed to be transforming into someone he could manipulate before his eyes, he assured her that they could talk, if she just came into the office tomorrow and do her usual work. Marriott grinned on the end of the phone, maybe she could nail him after all.

Marriott turned up at the office the next day with a slightly more slovenly appearance, when the odd staff member tried to talk to her she jumped at them. She went around and did her duties as best she could, she deliberately avoided going anywhere near Mac’s room, she had to make sure she didn’t get him in trouble. But she did speak to Ben, even he was disturbed by her appearance and asked if she was alright, she didn’t like lying to Ben particularly but she kept the act, stammering and fiddling with her glasses. He simply repeated the sentiments he had said the first they had met

“You should get out of here Doc, this place, it’s breaking you...seriously.” Ben paused and then tentatively laid his hand on her shoulder

Marriott smiled sadly at him and gave it a squeeze. Dr Cotton came in that point, Ben immediately retreated into the corner on his bed again, eyes cast down.

“Dr Kauffman, if you’ve quite finished. I’d like to see you now about your absence yesterday.” Cotton said crisply

Marriott nodded, she got up and stumbled slightly. She had to sell this vulnerability thing hard if this was going to work. Cotton led her along the corridors past patient rooms and equipment and other staff. Finally they made it Cotton’s office, Marriott was taken back, there was another man already sitting there. But she didn’t react, other than a slight widening of the eyes. Cotton gestured for her to sit down on the opposite side of the desk, she squeezed herself into the chair. She waited for Cotton to speak

“So Dr Kauffman, I feel like I should say first, you’ve been a welcome asset to the team. The patients like you and I think you make them feel more comfortable, you’ve been a positive influence. So when you didn’t show up yesterday for work, I was concerned and a little disappointed.”

Marriott waited and looked at the man in the chair, he was simply listening he hadn’t said a word at this stage. Cotton picked up on it

“Don’t worry Dr Kauffman, this is a colleague of mine Dr Severin, he’s one of the owners of the hospital. He’s simply here to listen, please tell me what happened.”

Marriott was prepared for this and began, she snivelled and stumbled, making up a story about an ill brother who had serious mental health problems and how she thought this place would help and it had been so hard to cope, she was so worried about him and not being able to see him and yesterday he’d had an episode so she had to go racing home to see him and talk to him. It had been so hard, he was so worried and unhappy and she was at her its end…she finished off her performance by bursting into tears (a trick she’d learned in high school drama) and bowed her head and waited. The two male doctors looked at her and smiled

Cotton asked at the end of her speech

“I’m sorry about all this, I had no idea you were going through such trauma at home. I’m sure we could find a place for you brother here. Why didn’t you come to us sooner? I could helped you and saved you so much pain.” Cotton came round and put a hand of Marriott’s knee, she repressed a shudder.

“You’re so kind Dr Cotton…it’s just…it’s the cost. I know this place is terribly exclusive and the fees are high and I didn’t want to ask for charity, but I’ve become so desperate and I…” Marriott managed to stumble at the end…come on she thought take the bait!

“Ahh I see...I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement. We can come up with some kind of plan…we have many patients here who can’t afford the fees. We make allowances so we can help people.”

Marriott had to hide her glee, bingo! She’d finally found her way in. She looked up and put her hands into Cotton’s

“Thanks you so much. You have no idea what this means to me.”

“I’m so glad we could help. Now there’s something else we want to discuss with you.”

Marriott raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing.Now Severin spoke

“Dr Kauffman, my partner has spoken highly of you and I’m glad we can help you in your time of need. However, we do need to talk to you about one of your interactions with your patients, now do you recognise this?”

Severin held up Marriott’s handkerchief. Marriot’s eyes widened, there was a heavy blood streak, oh god what had happened to Mac? She should never have given it to him, but he looked so pathetic lying there, she wanted to give him hope, now she was worried she might have condemned him further…god… However, none of this showed on Marriott’s face, she blinked a few times and simply

“It looks like my handkerchief, I lost it a few days ago. It’s kind of you to pick it up, but I’m still a little confused as what this has to do with patients.”

“We found it in the rooms of one our patients, a Mr Norris. Do you recognise that name?”

Marriott felt her heart hammering in her chest, but she kept her panic buried

“He’s the one with the persecution complex, isn’t he? As well as a whole list of other things? I’ve spoken to him a few times, he always seemed nice enough. Do you think he stole it from me or something?” Marriott asked swallowing

“We think so, he’s very attached to you. He thinks your very special and reacts violently whenever your name is mentioned. This type of behaviour has got us very concerned.”

“I can understand why, I’m sorry it’s happening. I can stay away from him from now on? Or just focus on the other patients if you think that would help? Please tell me what you think is best.”

Marriott felt sick to her stomach saying all this, she was terrified of abandoning Mac, so vulnerable and scared, but there was no other option. If she leapt to the rescue now, everything was blown and what about the rest of them? She couldn’t sacrifice or even risk them as well as everything else for Mac’s sake.

“Actually we don’t think you should stop seeing him exactly, we’ve had to isolate him from other patients, but we think maybe you could talk to him. Or at least see him under examination while being observed by Cotton or myself? You can explain to him that what he did was wrong and see if you can try and snap him out of his violence? Perhaps the wrong phrase, but maybe we could exploit or use his connection to you to help his long-term recovery.”

“III…of course...I’m happy to help. Whatever you think is best.” Marriott finished lamely, she wanted scream, they’d backed her into a corner and she couldn’t get herself out, not right away.

“Excellent! I’m so glad you’re willing to try! Truly we think it would help. Shall we go now?”

“Now??I I I of course.” Marriott said “Lead the way.”

The two men gestured for her to get up and leave the office, they followed her and then overtook her. She had to walk fast to keep up with them, all this time she wanted to weep and scream, she wanted to snap their necks in two. These monsters, she would destroy them both, she would burn it all down, if she could just keep herself together longer enough. The men led her along the corridors into the low levels of the hospital, a place she hadn’t had a chance to explore, she stretched up to look through the many doors they passed, she took in broken rooms and equipment, tables with restraints, it was like something out of horror film. She made sure it was all caught on camera. The trio came to a set of huge iron doors with small windows in each of them. Dr Cotton pulled out set of keys from his pocket and opened the second door and there was Mac on the floor of a white room. His eyes panicked when saw Cotton and Severin and he looked even more horrified when Marriott followed them inside. He immediately to tried to push himself into the wall as he’d done when Marriott had first seen him.

Severin approached him, Marriott saw the fear in Mac’s eyes, what must he have done to him to produce such a reaction

“How are you today Mr Norris??”

“I III um..I feel much better.” Mac stammered out

“Do you know why you ended up here?”

“IIII I was violent, I did something bad…I had to be…calmed down.” Mac looked at his feet, he nervously brought up his hand to push his hair out of his face, then Marriott saw them, angry little red disks on either side of his head, the marks of serious ECT, what looked fairly recent. She took a deep breath. Mac registered her anger in the background and continued on

“I II stole something…I think…from her…I don’t remember doing it…I just wanted something nice to hold onto…she was nice to me. I didn’t mean to do something bad…I just…I wanted II…”

Severin nodded smiling

“I’m glad you understand why you’ve been brought here and what you’ve done wrong. But that’s not quite enough, we brought Dr Kauffman with us so you could talk to her and beg for her forgiveness because you’ve done a very bad thing. She was your doctor and she was kind to you and you repaid her by stealing from her, that’s wrong, you need to learn that. You need to not do cruel things to people who are kind to you, only when forgives you, then maybe you can move forward.”

Marriott was a little shocked by this speech, she had thought she was going to give some kind of speech to Mac, but clearly Severin had decided to change his mind, or maybe this had been the plan all along. She endured this horrifying rant and looked away in shame. She hated herself for listening to it and not doing anything, all of this was registered by Mac still sitting on the floor looking up at them. One Severin was done talking, Cotton pushed her forward to Mac. He looked up at and words spilled out ,

“I’m sorry doctor, I did a horrible thing to you…I betrayed you, you were trying to help me and I did something bad. I broke your trust for a silly reason, a selfish reason….I didn’t mean too. I was just….it doesn’t matter why I did it. It was wrong of me and I should have known better…please forgive me. Please forgive me.”

Marriott let out a choked noise, she couldn’t say anything, she just continued to stare at him. Mac looked up at her pleading, realised that his apology didn’t seemed to be working, he had to fix this, he had to fix himself otherwise he was never going to get out of here.

“Please forgive me…I’m begging you. I know I did a wrong thing, it was a horrible mistake, but I want to fix it please. I want to fix myself, I don’t want to…to lose all the kindness you gave me. I know I don’t deserve it, but I would like to earn it back, if I could, I know I can fix this, fix myself...if you’ll let me…if you’ll let me I’ll promise to be goo..” Mac didn’t get a chance to finish his speech. Marriott dropped to her knees in front of him and took his hands in hers

“Please stop…of course I forgive you. Please no more apologising, I know you’re sincere. It’s okay. I forgive you.”

Mac smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, she didn’t hate him, she’d forgiven him. He could fix this; he would fix this. Marriott held his hands for a second longer and then let go. She got up and dusted herself down.

Severin were fascinated by the interaction, they thought these two random people had a shared connection, something to exploit for future reference. This doctor could become very useful to them. He gestured for Dr Cotton to depart, the two men moved towards the door and waited for Marriott to leave with them, she realised with a sinking heart that they were going to leave Mac in here. She had to intervene

“Doctors, I was thinking I could take our patient back to his room. He’s clearly sincere in his desire to do better and maybe I could talk to him a bit more as we walk?” She said smiling at them

Severin and Cotton were annoyed at her, they had intended to leave him in there for at least another day, but it was difficult to do that and refuse her now and keep the façade of legitimacy. It would have been better to let the patient stay where he was. Severin and Cotton walked away from Marriott for a few minutes and conferred, Marriott smiled down at Mac as best she could, he smiled back at her but it had a kind of demented edge, a brainwashed edge to it. Finally the two doctors returned

“We think that would be fine Dr Kauffman, we’ll go on ahead. Please return to my office, when you’ve deposited the patient in his room. We’ve got further things to discuss.” Cotton said curtly

Marriott nodded emphatically, she waited for the two men to leave and then offered her hand to MacGyver, he heaved himself up and then used the wall to balance himself, she offered him her arm, but he refused saying

“I should really try and get back myself, I mean you shouldn’t help me after what I did. I’ll need to learn to balance on my own.”

Marriott sighed and nodded, she held the door open for him as he wobbled and walked. She shut the huge door behind them with a bang which of course made him jump slightly. She sidled up next to him to make sure he didn’t fall as he went up the endless stairs. Mac tried to talk to her a little bit, but it didn’t really work, he rabbited on about treatment and how he was going to get better and how sorry he was and thanked her over and over again for how kind she had been to him. She just held her hand up at one point to cut him off, she couldn’t stand listening to the bullshit come out of his mouth, what had happened? How badly had he been electrocuted that his mind had been broken even more than before? She wanted to scream and shake him saying, where are you? Where’s the real you? You have to be in there!!

Mac realised how upset the doc was and didn’t really know what to do about it, he’d tried apologising and he had thought that she’d believed him. He desperately wanted her to look at him, to smile at him as she had before, to be nice to him, but she couldn’t even look at him at all. Was he really that broken to her? How could he fix that? He couldn’t even remember what he’d done to upset so badly, Mac felt horrible inside, he’d been so difficult and horrible and now despite his best efforts to fix it, she still hated him. As they reached the main level where the patient’s rooms were, he made one last desperate attempt to fix it. He stood in front of her as she was about to open the door and held us his hands to stop her

“Look, I know you’re still upset with me. I know what I’ve done, I’ll be better I promise! But I can see your still upset, I want to fix it. I’ll be better, I will, I’ll get better, I’ll earn back your kindness to me. Please just…just look at me like you did before, show me you don’t hate me…I’m begging you..”

Marriott closed her eyes for a second to stop the tears coming out of them, she rubbed her face

“Do you remember anything I told you? Anything at all before this latest session of ECT?”

Mac stammered and stuttered

“No...but I…want…I mean I know what I did…” Mac ran his fingers through his hair uneasily, revealing the red scratches from the electrodes once again, the doc had brought on a headache and he tried to push the pain away, but failed. He started to wobble in earnest, he put his other hand on the door handle to keep himself upright, but slipped anyway, Marriott caught him on her arm. He was still rubbing his head

“ I should remember…I know, but I don’t really…I just remember you were nice, you were so gentle to me. I want to remember…I do…, is that why you won’t look at me the way you did before? Did I do something so shameful? Did I hurt you so badly? III”

“Enough talking now, I don’t hate you I promise…let’s just get you back to your room.” Marriott murmured in his ear, she kept hold of him as they walked, he lent on her heavily

“I promise I don’t hate you…I’m just a bit upset, that’s all, this isn’t about you. I know it’s not your fault…I know, it’s okay I promise.” She said over and over again, Mac finally relaxed he nodded at her

“That’s good…I’ll be good…I’ll be good I promise…” he said quietly. They made it to his room, she lifted him onto the bed and pulled the covers over him, he made a grab for her hand as she tried to leave.

“I know…you’ll be good…I know.” She said and gently pulled it away. She escaped promptly and went looking for Cotton and to try and think about how to fix this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does this chapter work? I was really unsure of it when I wrote it, is it too long? Does it ramble, thoughts appreciate it


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mac is tormented once again and Marriott desperately plots and schemes to get them out this horrible mess. Written with Whumptober Day 25 in mind. Feedback as always very welcome. 
> 
> No 25.  
> Disorientation | Blurred Vision | Ringing Ears

Marriott caught up with Cotton and Severin not long after and put on her best performance face. She wept and grovelled and ingratiated with all her strength, all the while pushing the sick feeling in her stomach away as best she could. They spoke to her about money and the hospital’s charitable works and how they would have to get some money from her, but they were sure they could find a process that was affordable to her and could help her brother. She purred at them in gratitude. When they went onto more practical information, she mentioned a separate bank account that’d she prefer to use, rather than the one they paid her with, they just nodded and smiled and told her to speak to one of the office staff and they could set it all up. Again Marriott nodded furiously at them, trying to blame the grateful employee and bite back her desire to scream and hit them in the face.

Eventually their discussions came around to Mac and his ‘obsession’ with her.

“He really is a very ill man. He needs a great deal of help. We worry that you being around him might be exacerbate his condition or he could do damage to you.” Cotton said

“Do you really think that’s likely?” Marriott responded, trying to keep her voice neutral

“He really is very attached to you. Although the ECT has clearly done it’s work, we think it might be better if you didn’t see him for a while.” Severin added

Marriott swallowed weighing how to play this in her mind. She was scared of abandoning Mac, but she also couldn’t draw attention to him either.

“I will obviously agree with whatever you think is the most appropriate treatment.”

The two men nodded in a very self-satisfied sort of way.

“But…I spoke to him before I put him to be and I wonder if me completely ignoring would maybe do him more damage. He seemed very keen to make it up to me. Maybe I could do sessions with one of you in attendance or…an extra nurse?” Marriott said, praying she wasn’t blowing it by asking too much.

Severin and Cotton looked at her in shock. The fact that she had dared even request something amazed them. By this time, they were all sitting back in Cotton’s office and Marriott wisely looked at her feet in an attempt to look meek and mild. After an awkward silence they dismissed her saying they would think about it, Marriott groaned internally and snuck away. She stopped by the main office of the hospital on the way, yet another room she hadn’t really registered when she first arrived and spoke about banking and finance to a bored and distracted clerk. Marriott also marked the place as somewhere else she’d have to come and stake out as it was another possible place to find financial records. She spent the rest of her day doing her rounds checking on patients; taking therapy sessions, changing bandages, making sure they were taking their medications, all very normal doctor things, periodically she passed Mac’s room and did her very best to ignore it. As the day drew to a close, she peaked in through the window. She saw him, still sound asleep on the bed, his mess of blond hair, a huge bruise across one side of his face, she could still see those angry red marks on his temples and the fingers on his hand still looked just a little bit off and he was so thin, god he was thin. Mac had always been kind of skinny as a kid, but now he was virtually skeletal. His cheekbones were weirdly pronounced, and his arms looked like they could snap in two. Ignoring her better judgement, she snuck inside for a moment, she knelt next to the bed and took his hand, he gripped it tight, but didn’t wake. Marriott raised an eyebrow at this, but then registered a red dot to in his neck, clearly, they’d given him something else to keep him asleep. She did a fast check over him to make sure he actually was alright, thankfully he did seem to be, just deeply asleep. She kept hold of his hand for a minute and spoke quietly

“Hold on Mac, I know you’re still in there. I promise I’ll get you out of this place I swear it, I promise, just hold on a little bit longer. Help is coming. I promise.”

With that she escaped away, leaving Mac to his dreams.

Mac had been given a heavy dose of morphine and a cocktail of various other drugs to keep him under, Tristan had gotten in when Marriott wasn’t around to make sure as he put it ‘the miserable little fucker stayed under until later’. He’d only been half awake at the time and vaguely registered a pinch in his neck, but that had been it. He woke up when it had gone dark, exhausted and groggy, despite the fact that he’d slept the most he’d done in months. He opened his eyes slowly, but everything was fuzzy. He could sort of make out the room, he could see shapes and a little bit of moonlight coming through the window, but that was it. He tried to get up off the bed, but promptly crashed to the floor with a loud bang, he groaned audibly, but then slapped his over his mouth. His memories of the guards beating for making noise were still there in his damaged head and he didn’t want to incur their wrath again, he prayed they hadn’t heard him.

He sat there for a few moments trying to get his eyes to focus but couldn’t. Everything remained a blur of shapes and half-light. He tried to remember the day or the previous day? He couldn’t really remember it clearly or knew how long he’d slept; he remembered the white room and the doctor coming to see him with Severin and Cotton and he shuddered automatically. But the doctor had been nice to him, even though he’d been awful to her, even though she seemed so upset by the end of it all. He remembered trying to plead wit her, to beg her forgiveness, promising her anything, saying he could fix it. God his head ached, what had they dosed him with? Severin’s horrible face kept appearing in his mind over and over again, almost over riding everything else. He sat on the cold floor of the room for a few moments rubbing his eyes trying to get Severin’s face out of his head.

Tristan and several of the other guards or nurses whatever you want to call the thugs who ran the hospital under Severin heard the crash he made; in reality they had been waiting for him. So while Mac tried to calm himself and rub his tired out eyes, Tristan flanked by three cronies stormed in making Mac jump. He put his hands up in protest about to plead for them to leave him be. But it was no good, they grabbed his arms and hauled him up. One of the produced a blindfold and yanked it around his head, deliberately too tight, tangling it up in his hair. They put handcuffs onto him and pulled him forward. The dragged him through the hospital corridors, making him trip and knocking his feet steps at regular intervals. Mac tried to ask where they were going and got a slap to the face, he tasted blood in his mouth and chose to remain quiet the rest of the time.

When they did stop Mac, felt horribly dizzy, like he’d be dragged around in circles repeatedly (not so far from the truth in fact). When Tristan stopped, Mac came stumbling to a halt. He heard a door open up; Tristan pushed him inside. Mac crashed into the floor with his hands behind his back, still blindfolded, he heard Tristan enter behind him and started to panic. He tried to get himself up, but Tristan pushed him back on his knees.

“So Norris, here we are again! No doctor to save you now! Just you and me. I told you, you’re nothing but trouble, you cause damage to everyone around you. Look at the doctor! She’s in trouble because of you, because of what you did to her! What will happen to her now???”

Tristan walked around Mac as he talked, the room they were in had a weird echoing quality to it, so Mac couldn’t work out where the sound coming from. He moved his head back and forth trying to work it out, but only succeeded in making himself more dizzy

“What? No! I said sorry to her for that! I’ll fix it, I promised her I would fix it! She won’t get into trouble because of me. I said sorry, I told her I would never do it again. I swore I wouldn’t.”

“And did she buy it??”

Mac bit his lip, the doctor’s reaction had worried them and it came back into his brain now. Tristan grinned at the silence.

“Told you’re, you’re poison to everyone around you. You break everything…”

“I’m not…I’m not…I know I’m not.” Mac said furiously, blinking behind the mask.

“Ahhh, but you are. That’s why you’re here…that’s why you’ve been left alone, with no family, no friends…” Tristan repeated the phrases over and over again.

“I’m not…I’m not, I know I have a family somewhere…IIII” Mac desperately tried to refute what Tristan was saying to him. But the doubts were creeping in, he was broken, he was scared, he was alone, even the doctor who was so nice to him thought he was broken, that’s why he was here in the blackness, torments wringing in his ears. He deserved all of this, but some other part of his head, told him that was wrong, that people were looking for him, he just had to hold out, help was coming. His brain was in a kind of tangled agony, he tried to shut out Tristan’s voice, but he couldn’t.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mac's fate worsens and he's finally broken by Tristan. Marriott plots once more and discovers a few things about Mac and comes up with a desperate plan

Mac fell to his knees with a smash trying with all his might to push Tristan’s taunts out of his head. But the monstrous thug followed him down, getting on his knees next to him; whispering and tormenting

“They don’t want you, you’re a freak, you’re broken inside. You’ll die in this place, you’ll die alone, you’re all broken into bits, no one is coming for you. You’re nothing, you’re going to die in this place all alone.”

Mac tried to push away from him even handcuffed and blindfolded to find some space that didn’t have Tristan in it, but he was dragged back into the centre of the room again and again by multiple sets of hands crushing his arms. Then the music started, loud industrial techno, being pumped into the room. Mac jerked his head back and forth to try and work out where the sound was coming from but couldn’t anything up. It just made his head hurt and the pumping base beneath him was horrifying. The music got louder and louder and Tristan’s whispering got closer to his ears, so Mac could feel his breath on his neck. Then the punches to the ribs started; crack then came a phrase

“They don’t want you, you’re a freak, you’re broken inside.”

Another crack

“You’ll die in this place”

Crack

“You’ll die alone, you’re all broken into bits.”

The pain went on, it was nothing like Mac had ever had to cope with before. The noise, the blackness, the intensity of it all. Tristan had always been horrific, but this, this was something else. He wanted to kill him, smash him to pieces and watch him bleed to death on the floor. The punches kept coming, he felt multiple ribs break, he felt someone smash something into his leg, he cried out in agony, then suddenly he felt a right hook to the face. The force of the hit meant Mac hit the cold hard floor beneath him, Mac could feel blood welling up in his mouth, his whole face hurt, and he was scared that they might have broken his jaw. He just lay there waiting for the horror to continue on.

Tristan stood over him, a crony on either side looking at the heap of broken bones and bruises. He hated Norris so much, he hated the way Severin was obsessed with him, he hated the way he wasn’t breakable, he hated the way how people seemed to be drawn to him, the patients, that doctor, wanting to protect this creature who was so weak, so pathetic. He wanted to break him, make him suffer, just for him, not out some doctor’s fascination just to prove he could, prove that he was better than this broken madman bleeding at his feet. That was when he brought out a cattle prod and slammed into Mac’s ribs. As the spikes of electricity sparked out Mac screamed again and tried to push himself away, one of Tristan’s simply put their foot in the way and Mac was once stuck. Tristan smiled at the heap and did it three more times for good measure, Mac screamed each time, his voice becoming more and more hoarse with each push. Then he pulled Mac up onto his knees again, dragging him up by his tangled hair

“You know why I’m doing this Norris?”

Mac just stayed silent; he didn’t have anything to say that could make this better. He was just waiting for the pain to stop or for it all to end, whatever came first

“You know why? Because you needed to be broken, not broken the way Severin broke you, no no no, you think even after all that somehow, you’re better than this. I saw it when that pretty doctor favoured you and you rose to protect her. I saw it the first time I met you in Paris, do you remember that? I saw that arrogance in you, and I want to break it out, so this is my little experiment, to see how long it will take.”

Mac flinched at the mention of Paris, the pain went through his head like a knife, there was some bell of familiarity he felt in spite of all the pain. He could see people, his friends waiting for him in the distance, voices in his ear, a rope ladder, people escaping out, he was doing something good, something important. But then Tristan smacked him in the face and the memory was gone and he was once again stuck on his side, he could feel the damaged ribs burning. His whole side was on fire. After that Tristan started to kick him again and again in the stomach, Mac coughed blood onto the floor, the mask came down from his eyes and he could just make out Tristan’s grinning face above him. Tristan suddenly registered Mac could suddenly see and kicked him in the face. Then he knelt down and pushed the mask back over him with a mocking sound. 

Eventually Tristan and his cronies began to grow tired and stopped. There wasn’t much of Mac left at their feet. His white scrubs were covered in blood, there were bruises up and down his arms and across his collar bone. There was a nasty bruise forming on his cheek and a streak of blood coming from one on his eyes and his left leg was twisted. Through it all Mac had remained silent, he offered up a small prayer to anyone who was listening just to end it, to make it stop, to make all the suffering go away. He wanted the peace, he wanted the noise to stop, the vibrating techno, Tristan’s whine, the bruises, the blood, the aches, he just wanted all of it finish. As his tormenters backed off, Mac just lay there, rasping on the floor, he could feel the blood soaking and matting in his hair, the restraints cutting into his wrists. He waited and prayed for it to end. 

As the sun came up Tristan pulled Mac up, he could barely stand let alone walk. The room was a mess of blood and dust. Mac stumbled as they pulled him up, he groaned as he fell onto his weak leg.

“No, no you can’t die on me now.” Tristan murmured as he pushed him towards the door “We going to do this all again tomorrow.”

Mac shrank away from him shuddering. Tristan paid no mind and pushed him out of the door into the corridor, his fellow thugs followed behind him. They eventually made it back to the room before any of the day staff showed up. They undid the restraints and pulled the blindfold off him, pulling at his hair which was now matted with brown blood. They pushed him into the room, he once again fell to his knees as he had done so many times the previous night. He could them laughing at him as he knelt there, he waited quietly for them to leave. Slowly he crawled towards the bed, not trusting his ability to stand, he just dragged himself up onto the bed. Part of him wanted to cry, but he was so exhausted, and he hurt so much everywhere, that he didn’t even have the energy for that.

***

Marriott in the meantime had passed a sleepless night and a restless day. She couldn’t keep this pretence up much longer, Mac and frankly the other patients were deteriorating, and she was frightened that the two psychos at the helm were going to kill them. She was also worried that she was going to get made, Tristan hated her, and she was sure he didn’t trust her and frankly she didn’t trust herself around him. God what to do?? Did she pull out? No she couldn’t after all this work and what was the point of it all if she didn’t, she didn’t quite have enough concrete information evidence to shut the place down anyway. She would wait a bit longer; she’d have to break into the computers in the next few days and grab what she could and pull out then and that would have to be enough.

The next part was getting the patients out, how could she manage that? There would be what fifty of them? She’d need support from somewhere, local police force? No, they would be suspect, what connections did she have that could help with that? And Mac, God, he must have people looking for him surely. That she’d have to find out too, she got up and pulled the images from her phone, she found Mac’s file and pulled the images out and began to read. As she read further and further into it, her heart sank slightly, she knew exactly who Mac worked for and it was going to complicate things beyond belief. She groaned, where were they anyway? Mac had been with Cotton for almost a year, why hadn’t his own people pulled him out.

The already messed up scenario was even more a tangle now and presented serious danger for her. She called up her own people and after some swearing about waking them up at the worst possible time, she began to explain. She heard a similar serious of groans and cursing that she had said to herself

“You’re sure about this guy? What about the rest?”

“Positive, they’re all political agitators, ‘trouble makers’ of one sort or another. But yeah, He’ll cause the most trouble.”

Marriott continued talking about her plan, the key data she was still missing, the potential risk, she laid it all out. After some discussion they agreed, one week that was it and they would pull out and run with what they had. She didn’t exactly feel any better after the ‘chat’, she paced her crappy apartment round and round trying think what else could be done. She went through all her files, wrote everything down sent it all offer, both paper form and online, although Marriott didn’t quite admit it to herself. She was doing what she called her nuclear option in case it all went wrong, it was something she rarely indulged in, but this time round she genuinely wasn’t sure what was going to happen. She even took out her own camera and recorded a bunch of content and sent it off to various people, her hands shaking slightly as she did, offering a small prayer to anyone who might be listening above or below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit unsure about this chapter, does it work??? I'm thinking I'm re-write?? Thoughts appreciated.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay a monster update! Marriott finally gets her butt into gear and Mac faces the consequences of his latest beating from Tristan. 
> 
> More is coming tomorrow. It's just there's a lot plot to get into one section, so I figured maybe split it up? (Let me know if this is too long/too short)

Marriott in the meantime had passed a sleepless night and a restless day. She couldn’t keep this pretence up much longer, Mac and frankly the other patients were deteriorating, and she was frightened that the two psychos at the helm of the ‘hospital’ or nut house, she didn’t even know what to call it. She terrified they were going to kill the patients. She was also worried that she was going to get made, Tristan hated her, and she was sure he didn’t trust her and frankly she didn’t trust herself around him. God what to do?? Did she pull out? No she couldn’t after all this work and what was the point of it all if she didn’t, she didn’t quite have enough concrete information evidence to shut the place down anyway. She would wait a bit longer; she’d have to break into the computers in the next few days and grab what she could and pull out then and that would have to be enough.

The next part was getting the patients out, how could she manage that? There would be what fifty of them? She’d need support from somewhere, local police force? No, they would be suspect, what connections did she have that could help with that? And Mac, God, he must have people looking for him surely. That she’d have to find out too, she got up and pulled the images from her phone, she found Mac’s file and pulled the images out and began to read. As she read further and further into it, her heart sank slightly, she knew exactly who Mac worked for and it was going to complicate things beyond belief. She groaned, where were they anyway? Mac had been with Cotton for almost a year, why hadn’t his own people pulled him out. The already messed up scenario was even more train wreck now and presented serious danger for her. She called up her own people and after some swearing about waking them up at the worst possible time, she began to explain. She heard a similar serious of groans and cursing that she had said to herself

“You’re sure about this guy? What about the rest?”

“Positive, they’re all political agitators, ‘trouble makers’ of one sort or another. But yeah,

He’ll cause the most trouble.”

Marriott went on talking about her plan, the key data she was still missing, the potential risk, she laid it all out. After some discussion they agreed, one week that was it and they would pull out and run with what they had. She didn’t exactly feel any better after the ‘chat’, she paced her crappy apartment round and round trying think what else could be done. She went through all her files, wrote everything down sent it all offer, both paper form and online, although Marriott didn’t quite admit it to herself. She was doing what she called her nuclear option in case it all went wrong, it was something she rarely indulged in, but this time round she genuinely wasn’t sure what was going to happen. She even took out her own camera and recorded a bunch of content and sent it off to various people, her hands shaking slightly as she did, offering a small prayer to anyone who might be listening above or below. She made a few phones calls

Eventually though she had to get back to work and put the plan into motion. She turned up at the hospital for a night shift. Cotton had contacted her that was the best place for her as she wouldn’t feed “Norris’s obsession” so much as she wouldn’t be around during the day. Marriott questioned the logic of this but didn’t have the brain power to argue. She smiled at the desk clerk and she went in and went up to the main wing of the hospital. She went on her rounds and put her best smile on, acting like nothing was wrong, she spoke to Ben. He looked awful, his long straggly hair, thin with new bruises. Her mind was starting to doubt her plan, maybe she should push it forward? She couldn’t let them suffer anymore, could she? He obviously asked about her sudden shift in personality, but she brushed it off. She pushed his mind on to something else, if she was going to get all these people, she had to warn them at least in some way

“Ben...if I told you could leave this place. What would you say?”

Ben snorted and then groaned slightly, a new pain in his side, a new bruise probably

“I mean it…what would you say?”

“I’d say you’ve lost your marbles doc.”

Marriott did her best to stay calm.

“I mean it Ben. There’s a way out of this. I know…I know why you’re really in here. I know…why you’re really here.”

“What?”

At this point Ben backed away from here and started to shake.

“There’s no real reason why I’m here. I swear. I’m here for no reason at all.” He repeated the same phrase over and over again. He pushed himself into a corner and was hyperventilating. Marriott followed him and put her hands on his arms and said as gently as she could

“Ben…please stay calm. I’m not going to hurt. I’m going to get you, all of you out of here. I swear it. I know about this place, it’s a front…I know you’re not a schizophrenic. I know you got dumped here to be kept out of trouble.”

She kept hold of him, waiting for him to calm, he eventually managed to respond

“What do you think I am?”

“A whistle-blower.”

At that he started to hyperventilate all over again.

“Look Ben. Stay calm. I know the story or at least I know enough. I give you my word I will get you and Morgan and the rest of you out of this hole.”

“How do I know I can trust you? That this isn’t some trick?”

“You don’t. You’d have to trust me.”

“How can I? “

“Look Ben, I don’t what else I can say to you. I I I’ve got a plan sort of to get you all out.”

“Sort of??”

“I can’t go into it now.”

“You’re not really a doctor, are you?”

“I couldn’t say Ben, but does that mean you’ll trust me?”

“I don’t have too much choice, do I?”

Marriott smiled sadly.

“Dr Kauffman isn’t your real name is it?”

Marriott grinned at him, she leant forward and murmured it in his ear. She put her arms around him, he was shocked initially but the embraced her. It had been a long time since anyone had shown him any affection or goodness or anything really. That in of itself was enough to make him think that maybe she wasn’t part of the system. They spoke a little bit longer afterwards, she gave him a vague sense of the timeline, hoping that it wouldn’t get him into trouble, but he had insisted on knowing something. Afterwards she left to continue on her mission of warning everyone.

Next, she went to Morgan’s room, she didn’t hold out a huge amount of hope, weeks of failure in this room. Morgan was in as sorry state as ever, overly thin like Ben, a new long cut was on her face and she had dark circles under her eyes. Marriott took a deep breath, everything had failed up to this point, but that was before she knew Morgan was Russian, She got in the room with her and reached inside her brain for her long-buried bits of Russian and the reaction was amazing

“Hi, I hope you’re okay…” She said tentatively from the edge of the room

Morgan stopped rocking the corner as she so often did and stared

“I’m sorry, you’re stuck in this place of strangeness.” Marriott continued

Morgan giggled at the dodgy grammar and Marriott smiled at the progress

“ I know my Russian isn’t very good”

“No it’s not.”

“I’d like to help you, I was to able.”

Again Morgan laughed

“It’s good to hear my own language again. Even if you’re butchering it.”  
  
“I’m glad...I think….I’ll chose to take that as a compliment.”

“Make of it what you like.”

Marriott moved closer to her, Morgan flinched slightly. So Marriott stopped, she sat herself in the middle of the room

“I want to help you….I’m not like the other doctors. I know…there is something wrong with this place. I want to help you get out.”

Morgan stared at her

“I should have done this weeks ago. I’m sorry. But I want to hep you now.”

“What can you do for me?”

“Make sure you’re safe. Get you out of this hole.”

“You can do that?”

“I can try?”

“How would you do it?”

“I can’t go into detail now. But…please be ready. I promise a way out.”

Morgan grunted at this last comment. Marriott sighed, she should have done this ages ago, but to be honest she really hadn’t had a plan, she barely had one now. But enough was enough. She had to push her little escape route forward as fast as she could, sod a week, it would have to happen sooner than that .As they started to talk it was a repeat of the same conversation she had with Ben, with a little less hugging. She gave Morgan her name as well, it was the ultimate gesture of trust in an undercover op she thought and frankly she didn’t have much else to give them. After a little while she got up from the floor

“I give you my word….Maria” She said as she was about to depart, she offered her hand. Maria looked at her and her eyes started to water

“Masha…my family they used to call me Masha.” She took the hand and got up. Then Marriott nodded and left.

Marriott went through the rest of the patients on her list and repeated the process as many times as she dared, with some people she was vaguer, some were asleep. She was lucky largely; Tristan did not appear to be patrolling the halls the way he had done previously. So Marriott was free to move around more freely than usual. Finally, she came to Mac’s room, she had been putting it off partly out of fear of what might happen, partly because Mac and her…they had always been so tangled. It was all a fucked up, confused mess and she knew she had to keep it together if this sort of plan was going to work. She opened the door quietly, by the time she reached him it was the early hours of the morning. She breathed a sigh of relief as the room for once had not be tossed which suggested the guards hadn’t visited him. 

He was very much in the position he had been when they had first spoken all those days ago. His back was to her and she could see even from a distance that his arms were speckled with bruises and she was again reminded how thin he was. Her sense of time had got so horribly confused in this place, was it really only yesterday that she had made that horrible bargain with Severin??? God what a mess. She heard him groan and entered the room. She sat on the bed next to him and shook him awake as softly as she could. Part of her felt bad for disturbing his sleep, but it was now or never. He jerked awake at her touch and then groaned. He looked up at her and shrank away. Her heart sank, his face, god those hollow blue eyes. There was yet another blackeye, half his chin was bluey purple and there was a horrible reddish stain that slid down his forehead from his hair. His looked awful too, tangled and dirty with gunk all through it. He was terrified of her once again too, absolute fear was in his eyes, she wanted to cry so much.

“What…what…why are you here??? I haven’t done anything…I have…You really shouldn’t be around me. I wasn’t making any noise…I’ll try and be more quiet…I um I promise”

“Please try and stay calm. You weren’t making any noise. I needed to wake you up. I had to talk to you. Don’t be scared. I want to help you.”

“You shouldn’t try and help me. I’m broken inside…anyone who’s around me gets hurt. You should stay away…I’m poison…I’m all broken.”

“Please enough that….none of that is true. You’re not poison I swear it. Please I”

At that point Mac tried to get up from the bed, he pulled himself up, still crushing the sheets in his hands. He was so scared, he couldn’t take any more pain from anyone. He just wanted to be left in peace, that was it. He just couldn’t deal with any more agony, that was enough, he’d accept death. He just wanted it to end…but now she was here again, here like some ghost to remind him of how broken he was, how he wrecked everything, even nice people. He couldn’t take it, no more people angry at him, he knew now that she wasn’t nice. She would be cruel just like the rest had been because that was what he had deserved. He managed to heave himself out the bed and moved away from her, his hands up as submissive as he could manage

“Please…please stay away from me. I’ll be good. You don’t need to be here. I’m supposed to be here, if you stay near me…you’ll only get hurt….I’ll only…please I can’t take any more pain. I know…I’m supposed to take it. All the doctors tell me I need it...to fix me to cure me…but please I’m begging you… everything….hurts too much….please I’m begging you.”

He made it to the opposite wall with this speech, but then his weak legs gave out and he crashed down and screeched with the pain, too many bruises, too many cuts that had never fully healed. He put his hands over his head as she moved towards him, this was how it was going to end he thought, at 3am in a dingy room with a woman he thought was kind to him but he’d destroyed that too…she would end him. He probably deserved that, he waited for the final blow to come. Marriott forward and knelt next to him and pulled his arms away from his head, he tried to push himself into the wall, shrinking away from her with his eyes shut…waiting for something horrible to come. She felt so ashamed, that’d she let this go on so long.

“Please look at me…try and hear me. All that guff they told you…It’s lies….it’s all rubbish….all bullshit. You’re not poison…you’re kind and sweet and brilliant….I swear it. I’m not lying.. I’m going to get you out of here…please….”

Marriott’s voice cracked at the end of her little speech, her eyes started to water. Mac felt those hands on him, those hands that refused to let go and that scared him but were so familiar even after everything. He risked opening his eyes…

“How do you know all that? How can you? You don’t know me. You’re just trying to be nice to me…like you do with all the patients…I’m not worth doing that.”

“Yes I do know you and you know me! Come on, look me in the eye! Tell me you recognise me. That scar on my hand, every time you see it you react to it. You know where it’s from, come on Mac look at me…tell me what my name is!!”

“What did you call me?”

“I called you Mac. That’s your name, not Frank, not Norris. None of that. Your real name is Angus MacGyver. You hate your first name; everyone calls you Mac. No one calls you Angus, anyone who knows you at all calls you Mac.”

Mac’s head started to ache, flashes of images, of faces were starting to come into his head, long buried. He started to shake his head back and forth, as if to stop the surge, it was terrifying, people he knows or didn’t know. Marriott on the other hand leaned in closer, moving from his arms to his hands.

“Come on Mac…come on, I can see bits pushing back into your head. Back into that brilliant mind of yours. Please don’t fight, look at my hand… look at that scar on my hand…feel it. Tell me how I got it…come on Mac….please I know you can do it.”

Mac looked down at Marriott’s hands, he put his hand on hers and ran his fingers back and forth over the line on her hand and he stared it. Trying to recall, god his head hurt so much, part of him wanted to run away from it. But her voice, her pleading with him, her telling him he wasn’t a monster, it stirred something in his heart. He kept looking at it, holding her hand, gripping her fingers….

“You got this scar…when you were a little girl….you were at school….with me. There was an explosion…I caused…oh god I gave you that scar…I I”

“No no Mac…come on focus, yes there was an explosion at that school. But it wasn’t your fault, it was just accident…. I never blamed you for it. Tell me more…what’s my name…you know it…it’s buried in there…”

“Your name…Its like mine…it’s it’s….It’s Marriott”

“Oh Mac” At this point she threw her arms around him, tears filling her eyes. Never had she been so happy to hear her own name in all her life. He breathed a sigh of relief, he returned her hug. Memories of them together started to come into his head…and someone else…Boz? Bozer…he’d be his friend at school…too. It was all still in there, he could remember Bozer, Bozer laughing…Bozer at college…Bozer on his birthday. But other memories came too, them running away from gunfire, hiding in cold freezing places…none of it really made any sense. His head so much…everything hurt, Marriott released him wiping tears away from her eyes. She smiled at him

“Marriott why are you even here? You’re not a doctor, are you? I mean you don’t really work for this place. You can’t surely?”

“No Mac I don’t. But I would put the same question to you. How did you end up in this place?”

“I can’t remember…it’s all a haze…”

“Okay…something to worry about later. The main thing is. I’m here to bring this place down, to shut it all down. I’m going to get you and all this place and shut it down.”

“How?? How is that even possible? I mean…what power of you got here?”

“I promise Mac. I can’t go into detail right now, just be ready. You’re only going to have survive another week in this place that’ll be it. That’s it.”

Mac leant back against the wall

“I don’t know if I can…I mean…next time Tristan and his cronies come in. They might actually kill me…I mean this last time…it was like my head, my whole body was on fire. Everything was burning, they were all screaming at me and god I thought…I just wanted…wanted it end.”

“Oh Mac…I am sorry. I should have done this sooner. Please…please forgive me.”

“Why are you? It’s not your faut I’m here.”

“I know…but…”

After that they sat there for a while. Mac kept hold of her hand, squeezing it tight. Part of his exhausted head thought, if he let go of her, she would simply disappear and he’d be alone again. Marriott eventually got up pleading an aching back, she offered to pull him up and he obliged. But then he grabbed his stomach and groaned pain shooting through him

“Mac…mac come on tell me what’s wrong. Where does it hurt?”

“Everywhere…”

“Not helping…come on Mac…Tell me. Tristan what did he do to you? The last time…”

“I was blindfolded….but I could feel them kicking…it all went to my stomach…I mean…I might have internal…damage…maybe…my stomach hurts…my chest…” Mac rasped the last bit out and fell forward onto Marriott

“Okay…Mac come on stay with me. You can’t quit on me now.” Marriott pulled Mac towards the bed and laid him out as flat she could. She pulled up his t-shirt and grimaced at the bruises covering so much of his body. She gently pushed at his stomach, feeling or trying to feel where the injury was, Mac groaned

“Fuck…fuck….god Mac…okay I’ll fix this.” Marriott said “I’ll be right back. I promise.”

Marriott raced out and found a nurse, dozy and confused

“I need blood transfusions and plasma…lots of it right now”

“Sorry we don’t have that here…”

“Come on you’ve got to be shitting me. A hospital that doesn’t have plasma or blood.”

“We’re a psychiatric hospital…”

“Fucking forget it. I’ll find it myself.”

And with that Marriott raced off as faster her legs could carry her, she ransacked the cupboards looking for what she needed. She went looking through the fridges and freezes and grabbed what she could finally she found plasma! And enough blood, god she hoped this would work. That nurse, what a fucking incompetent. She found Mac in his room still gripping his stomach groaning. She was dragging an IV pole and two canula kits, she dumped it all on the table as fast she could, along with various other medical supplies. Firstly she dragged the bed out from the corner. Mac’s groans were getting louder and louder.

“Mac, try and lie back….please… I’m promise I’ll fix it.”

She pulled up the blood bag and set it up as fast as she could and the plasma. She set up the cannulas in turn, she grabbed one of his hands, holding it down as she pushed the needle inside, then she connected up the blood bag. She repeated the process with the plasma using Mac’s other arm (never a great trick to use the same arm). Mac continued to fidget and groan, she pushed her hands onto his in an effort to stop him moving.

“Mac please stop moving…you might kill yourself. Please listen to me…I’m here I’m not going anywhere. Listen to my voice…I’ll fix this I swear.”

Mac desperately tried to slow his breathing down, to push the pain away….he listened to Marriott. She kept talking to him, she wasn’t really saying anything at all, just his name over and over again. After what seemed like forever, the pain started to recede…his stomach was no longer in agony. He started to breath more easily. Marriott breathed more easily too, she let go of his hands and watched over him until just before dawn. When she was certain he was asleep she made a very speedy exit. She went round the hospital at breakneck speed gathering up all her equipment and shoving it into her rucksack. Taking as many photos as possible of Cotton’s hidden office and ransacking his draws once again…she found one vital thing that she hadn’t spotted before. She pocked it and then she made a fast inventory of the main offices, pulling every file she could find on finances. And then suddenly she saw it…. what she needed to bring them all down, what she should have looked from the start and it was just buried in the ordinary files, hiding in plain sight? She didn’t have time to think. She pulled everything onto her spare hard drive and then raced back to the room with Mac inside. He was still sound asleep, thank god. Taking advantage of his slumber, she pulled out her phone and made a series of calls, all whispers and muttered swearing.

She was breathing fast, she tried to calm herself down. She hadn’t really stepped in two days, she was desperately hoping that her plan such as it was, would work particularly now that she had stepped it up. She pulled a chair out next to Mac and waited as he slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so obvious caveat, not a doctor, I don't speak Russian. I did my best to make all those scenes believable. I hope they don't come off as too silly...


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marriott and Mac make their escape (with just a little bit of whump :D )

The morning came quickly, the sunlight woke Mac up. He groaned as he felt the tubes attached to his arms and he panicked immediately. But then he saw Marriott asleep in the chair next to the bed and the night came back to him, he knew…not a lot. But he knew his name, he knew her and he could remember Boze, so maybe it wasn’t all lost to him. She woke up a few minutes after Mac, she rubbed her eyes and groaned. Then she smiled at him.

“How are you feeling?” She asked as stretched and got up.

“Better…I think”

“Thank God. I think we’re probably okay to take these out now.”

She removed the blood and the plasma; he noticed the multiple bags and empty bottles on the table. Had she been awake all night watching over him? She removed the canula in his hand and the IV on his arm, with the speed and efficiency of a real doctor he thought as he watched. Mac cast his mind back, he couldn’t really remember any time in the last year or before where a doctor had done something for him that didn’t have some horrible twist or price to pay afterwards. Marriott did her best to ignore Mac’s blue eyes staring at her from the bed as she dumped the mess of medical stuff on the table. She pulled out a set of bandages and plasters from her supply of stolen goodies and went back to him on the bed. She put a plaster over his hand and his arm.

“Can you lift the t-shirt up?” Marriott asked

“Why?”

“To see what other injuries you’ve got. I’m sure Tristan and his cronies have done you plenty of damage. If you can’t tell me and I’ll do it for you”

Mac anxious to show Marriott he wasn’t totally helpless, lifted medical scrub top up and over his head. Marriott said nothing as she saw Mac’s chest, all those ribs, the heavy bruising all over his top half, blotches of green and yellow for older bruises, red, blue and purple for ones that had probably been received in the last 24 hours. She saw a long cut across the lower part of his stomach and what looked like a series of boot marked shaped bruises. Marriott fumed in her brain, but kept her expression neutral

“Mac…can you lie on your back? I think I’m going to have dress that, before it gets infected.”

Mac hesitated slightly, Marriott registered his twitching and offered him the bandages and the disinfectant bottle.

“You can do this yourself. I don’t mind, but you need to do it. Where we’re going, I can’t have you collapsing on me or getting ill. You need to be able to at least stand.”

Mac was about to protest that of course he could stand, but then thought better of it and took the proffered items. She pushed another piece of cloth towards him and waited. Mac poured the disinfectant onto his stomach and hissed slightly, then he wiped the excess away. He put a section of bandage onto the cut, then Marriott came forward again and offered him a little bit of tape. He did this all very carefully, very precisely, something about the movement of his hands made her think that the guy she knew was still in there somewhere.

“uuum, could I look at your back, just in case?” Marriott asked awkwardly. Mac nodded and lent forward without complaint. Marriott shuddered internally, the strange combination of absolute compliance and rebellion hinted at how much damage had been done, she moved around. His back did not look good either, again bruises everywhere and scarring from cuts long healed. Again Marriott felt a stab of guilt, she should have organised this jail break weeks ago. She faced him again

“Okay, you look alright, well not good. But there’s nothing that worries me immediately. Sorry..”

Marriott paused, her exhaustion and stress catching up with her. She yawned and felt her jaw crack slightly. Mac snorted, this mighty figure who had saved his life suddenly yawning like a teenager.

“What happens now?” Mac asked

“Now we wait. I know… you’ve waited…far too long already. But I think in order to get out of here we’re going to need night time. Cotton and his cronies will be patrolling the halls, I mean I’m not even supposed to be here by this point. I’m going to have to disappear for a while, I won’t be far away…. yes I know you don’t want me to go. But I’ve got otherwise this is all compromised. I promise I won’t be far away and I’ll make sure to keep Tristan away from you.”

Mac swallowed as he tried to calm his rising panic. His rational mind knew that of course if she was going to get him out of here, they couldn’t be seen together, and she couldn’t stay with him all day. But at the same time he was frightened; Tristan would be around and Mac knew that more horror was coming no matter what Marriott told him. Yet he was scared for Marriott too, he didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. He didn’t want her to come under Tristan’s machinations or torture and then he started to feel guilty for even wanting her to stay with him. His stomach twisting as he sat on the bed next to her.

“I…of course. When will you come back?” Mac said keeping the panic out of his voice

“Ideally tonight, that’s the plan. We, you me and everyone else is going to get out of this hell hole tonight.”

“But…how ? I mean how can you get that many people out? That many patients??? I mean...there’s cameras and guards and??”

“Mac…please be calm. Let me worry about all that. I give you my word; tonight. We all leave this place.”

Mac nodded his determination. Marriott got up to clean away the mess of medical supplies and tubing as Mac pulled his t-shirt back over his head. But a heavy tread made them both pause. Tristan was early that day, they heard them both move towards Mac’s room. Marriott moved quietly to the other side and put her finger to her lips, again Mac nodded, moving into the corner of the bed. They waited for him. Tristan entered with a flourish and saw Mac on the bed, small and pathetic as he always was

“Good morning, I’m glad to see you didn’t die in the middle of the night! More is coming for you today. I can’t wait!”

At that moment Marriott tapped him on the shoulder, he turned around confused, and didn’t react fast enough as she hit him with strongest left hook she could muster. Tristan reeled and stumbled backwards. But he recovered fast, he attacked back at speed, aiming for Marriott’s face, she managed to duck out of the way, but he followed and went for her neck. He gripped her tight and lifted her off her feet as she clawed at his arm. But Mac having recovered from the initial shock of seeing Tristan again, came up behind wielding the IV pole like a garrot. He forced the metal onto the bully’s neck and pulled as hard as he could. Tristan dropped Marriott with a clatter and slammed Mac into another wall, but he didn’t let go. Tristan pulled and strained trying to get Mac off his back, but he failed. After going an interesting shade of purple he collapsed on the floor at Mac’s feet. For a second Mac stood over him, the poll in hand over Tristan’s body, Marriott came up to Mac and gripped his wrist. She looked him square in the eye and shook her head.

“We need to hide him.” Marriott said, her practical brain kicking into gear again. Mac nodded. Together they heaved Tristan up and onto the bed. Marriott looked out into the corridor, thankfully no one was around. Where to put him where he wouldn’t cause them trouble? The vicious part of her just wanted to toss him out the highest window, but that wouldn’t work. In the end she heaved the monstrous hulk onto her shoulder and locked him in the nearest cleaning closet (with a piece of metal from one of the IV’s), using a broom handle for good measure. She returned to Mac’s room, where he sat waiting anxiously on the bed. She sat next to him

“Look Mac, I know you don’t want to hear this. But now we have to wait. Yes…it stinks. But I can’t sneak 50 people out of here in the middle of the day.”

“What if Cotton or Severin come?” Mac pleaded with her

“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen”

“And if Tristan wakes up?”

“One disaster at a time okay”

Mac stopped responding. He wanted to believe Marriott, that he really would be escaping out of this place tonight. But it seemed liked she almost didn’t know what she was doing, and if it failed, he didn’t want to imagine what would take place for either of them. Marriott sat for a few minutes in silence, eventually she got up to leave and said

“I’ll be back tonight. I promise”

And then she was gone, leaving Mac to brood alone. Marriott didn’t actually leave the site. She just needed somewhere to hide out for a few hours. She opted for one of the higher floors of the hospital that were rarely in use. She found an unlocked room and sat herself down on the floor amongst the dust and broken equipment. Marriott had thought she might sleep for a few hours, but after several failed attempts she gave up on that. Instead, she reached up and pulled off the wig that she had diligently put on every day of this assignment, revealing her long hair. The wig had left an angry red line on her head, but that would go. She sent a few more messages out and watched the clock and planned the escape as best she could.

Mac stared at his own wall as the hours passed, he jumped every time he heard a sound. But mercifully no one came to see him, Cotton and Severin must have been too busy to visit him that day maybe he thought. They didn’t come and torment him every day after all, there had been days where he’d be left completely alone, maybe just maybe he was lucky…or had something happened? Has she been caught? No he musn’t think like that, fear and worry circled in his brain during the morning. Other than crippling fear and worry, Mac did his best to try and recall his life or more his life, Boze came to mind a lot, Boze as a kid, the two of them laughing together, playing in a treehouse, conducting science experiments, watching movies. But there were other troubling memories that he couldn’t peace together, Bozer with a grenade in his hand. Boze with a gun in his hand about to shoot, Mac shuddered, some part of him knew he despised guns. He couldn’t really make sense of any of it.

Other people came into his head as well; a fierce looking woman with long dark hair, she was tiny but terrifying. He could see her surrounded by screens, but no name came to him and there were two others. A face half hidden by a computer screen, but it was smiling face, a face that produced a happy feeling inside and there was another woman too. He could see her; dark brown eyes and beautiful tattoos everywhere. But when Mac tried to force the name he just gave himself a headache. There was another man too that flicked into Mac’s brain he was a lot older, he had salt and pepper hair and dark brown eyes. Maybe he was Mac’s father ? He couldn’t really be sure. Every time he called the man’s face to mind Mac felt horribly sad, like some part of him was missing. Mac hated the fact that he couldn’t remember his own family, surely he must have one? He despised that he couldn’t even remember his own father, or mother? Did he parents waiting for him? All these images and thoughts span around in his head as the hours passed.

Dusk came and Mac heard a knock on his door, he leapt up, ready to…he wasn’t sure what. But he was no longer cowering in the same way that he once would have. But it wasn’t Cotton or Severin, it was Marriott….with different hair.

“What?” She asked seeing his confusion

“Your hair??”

“Oh that, I’ve been wearing a wig this whole time. I yanked it off while I waited, no point keeping up the pretence now.”

“Good…I mean you look….you look more like you or the you I remember.”

Marriott smiled at him and beckoned him out. The halls were deserted of staff, Marriott had taken out several of the cameras on the main floor and the route she planned for an escape, so they were in theory safe. As Mac came out looking around, Marriott pushed something into his hand

“I think this belongs to you. Open as many doors as possible and get the people out.”

Mac stared at the item in his hand, a red swiss army knife and something just clicked. This was his, it belonged to him and he knew exactly what to do.

“Fourth floor, stairs at the end of the corridor.” Marriott added

He nodded and so the two split off in separate directions waking people and offering them an escape. Marriott’s early warning had worked in many cases and Mac’s own puppy dog blue eyes did the rest. Ben couldn’t believe his eyes when Marriott appeared and said it was time to leave, Masha gave her a similar reaction. So, between the two of them they had this group of maybe fifty people shuffling along in the semi dark, by some strange miracle they made it to the fourth floor. Marriott raced ahead at this point and found a large window on the side of the building inside what might have been a conference room. The crowd filed inside, a ladder made of wiring and plastic tubing was there ready and waiting. She scanned the landscape desperately, but there - he was Jacob just as he promised with half a dozen others and three large vans and of course a camera crew, he waved at her and she blew him a kiss back.

So the painstaking process of getting them down began, Marriott explaining who she really was, that they would get them out of here. The people weren’t with Severin or Cotton, they were here to help them, Mac sat on the other side and repeated the message. Ben went first, trusting whatever was outside couldn’t be worse than what he had endured previously. He joined Jacob on the ground and shook his hand, then Masha and the others, one by one. Marriott’s heart was hammering in her chest the whole time, waiting and watching for more guards, for Severin himself to show up. Finally, they were getting to the last of them, a fragile old lady with long white hair who had trouble walking, they helped her down. Marriott and Mac looked over as she made it to the bottom, they could see the scenes of people being treated for injuries looked over all done in whispers surrounded by stubby bits of trees and bushes, but it was happening. Then Marriott dropped her bag down, it landed with an unpleasant clunk, but Jacob managed to come forward and grab it.

“You next Mac, I’ll be the last one out.” Marriott said, she said gesturing for him to get on the ladder. As he heaved himself onto it , Marriott pushing him gently, a voice came from behind them,

“Stop, what you’re doing please. Neither you nor Mr MacGyver are going anywhere.”

Mac froze, Severin had found them. On instinct, he pushed the ladder off the window, and it crumpled into a heap on the ground. Jacob looked up horrified, he could see Marriott raising her hands and a young man frozen in fear. Marriott murmured “GO!”, then the two of them turned around. Jacob wanted to scream, but he had a story to film and people to take care of. Marriott would never forgive him if he failed at either of those tasks, so he did something else, he knew she would hate, he called up the local police and called in a hostage situation and a possible bomb threat. Afterwards, he went back to the crowd of people that had been dumped on him and checked everyone was doing okay, then he moved his camera crew to a different position and waited for the cops to arrive.

That was when helicopters started to appear in the sky, large and black with flashing white lights. A message blared out from louder speakers telling no one to move. This caused panic amongst the crowd of people, Jacob did his best to calm them all, the doctors, health and rescue workers that he’d gathered together tried too. No one really knew what was happening, so this frightened crowd got pushed into the cars and the vans to escape a potential new horror, but they didn’t get a chance to leave. Several of the helicopters landed and troops came streaming out followed by a woman with long dark hair and brown eyes barking orders. The soldiers split into groups, the building got surrounded and the rest of them made for the camera crew, one of the soldiers tried to grab Jacob’s camera. He got rewarded with a punch to the face, but the rest of the band of soldiers trained their guns on him. Jacob and his crew put their hands up, but the camera was still on it’s tripod and Jacob didn’t stop filming. The woman then came forward

“What the hell is going on here?”

“Who are you?”

“Director Webber, who are you and what are you doing here?”

Jacob smiled, so Marriott was right.

“Jacob Levy, New York Times.”

“What exactly are you doing here Mr Levy? This is a private federal building.”

“I’m here doing my job – covering a story, who exactly are you and why are you here?”

“That’s none of your concern. This is my operation now; my people are going to take care of it. I suggest you depart.”

“I’m not going anywhere. In case you hadn’t notice, there are a lot of very frightened ‘people’ here, one of my “people” is inside that building and according to my source so is one of yours.”

“I’m well aware of that, we’re going to take care of it.”

“I suggest you do it fast, I saw two people being held hostage not two minutes ago up there.” Jacob responded gesturing towards the window, at this point the woman started turned away speaking furiously into her coms.

**

Inside the room Mac and Marriott saw none of this. They turned around slowly as the voice suggested. Severin lent against the door, locking it behind him with one hand. Mac began to shake violently, Marriott moved to steady him, but Severin stopped her waving a pistol in their faces.

“On your knees please.”

The two obliged. Mac just about managed to stop shaking, he looked at Severin

“So you do know me then?”

“Oh yes Mr MacGyver, virtually from the moment you entered our premises all that time ago in Paris. When you pulled off that daring escape, it was very frustrating, but when we caught you it was such luck! I thought it a wonderful project to reshape you into one of own! And I almost succeeded!”

Marriott snorted

“You think that’s funny? Miss Kauffman, although I’m sure that isn’t your name. I should know your real name, before I shoot you, don’t you think? I mean it would only be polite.”

“No wait, I want to know why…why did you do all this to me? Why am I such interest to you?” Mac interrupted

“Mr MacGyver, don’t you realise? If we make you…with all your marvellous skills one of own, you would have been so very valuable to our cause. As I said we were very close if it hadn’t been for her…” Severin said waving his gun towards Marriott.

“Well, what do you have to say for yourself?” Severin continued

Marriott smiled at him and looked him square in the eye, ignoring the panic pumping through her veins. She said absolutely nothing to him.

“So be it.”

Severin aimed the gun directly at Marriott and fired, the world seemed to slow down as she ducked, he fired again as she dived out of the way, splintering wood flying through the air. Marriott pulled out a knife and threw it at Severin, as the knife made contact, Mac grabbed her as Severin raised his gun again determined to kill her. A smashing sound distracted them all. A military grade battering ram came through the door, the flying debris of wood and plastic threw them all backwards. Soldiers poured into the room, but one man stood at the helm: Jack Dalton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big chunky new chapter ! This bit has been a long time coming, what did you think? Did the action work, the drama? Pacing, was it too fast, too slow??? What did you think of the finale??? :)


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short update, Mac and Jack finally are reunited....

Mac stared at him from the floor, images of Jack flashed in his brain, Jack hugging him. Jack yelling at him furious, ranting and swearing. Jack smiling at him and ruffling his hair and then Mac at a funeral, carrying Jack’s coffin, his eyes watering as he walked slowly down the aisle in the church. He couldn’t be here; Mac had gone to his funeral, he knew that, he knew this man staring at him couldn’t, shouldn't be here. It had to be another trick, he put his hands over his ears and shut his eyes. He couldn’t take another illusion, another mirage, not when they were so close to being free, this person, this thing was just here to torment him; a horrible thought flickered into Mac’s brain, what if none of this had been real at all? What if it was all brought on by the drugs that Severin or Cotton or even Tristan had given him???

“No, no, no. I know you’re not real. Leave me alone.” Mac murmured to himself

Jack was holding a gun on Severin, bleeding on the floor. He gestured towards one of his subordinates to take the guy.

“It appears Mr MacGyver, your family has finally come back to you. I was wrong, I suppose you aren’t alone in this world. They’ve come for you….but I don’t doubt, you’ll wreck this too. And you’ll be alone again….then I’ll be waiting for you…I’ll be..”

Severin’s final cutting statement was interrupted by the butt of Dalton’s pistol in his face.

“Get this piece of shit out of my sight!” Jack yelled

Severin was dragged off in handcuffs, Jack put his pistol away and turned to Mac. He couldn’t quite believe his eyes, the man he’d left behind nearly three years ago was nowhere to be found, all he could see was a frightened, damaged boy who refused to look him in the eye. Dalton took in MacGyver’s skeletal form, the drab scrubs that made him look like a prison escapee. Jack looked at Mac’s hands, those brilliant hands that he had seen fix so many things in his life, they were skin and bone and they somehow looked wrong. The fingers were crooked and there was a hug long angry looking cut on the back of one of them. Mac’s face was a mess of dark shadows and yellow bruising, hidden by a tangle of dirty looking hair and an uneven beard, he could even see jagged little red marks on the sides of Mac’s head. Dalton felt a crippling stab of guilt, what had happened to him while he’d be gone? Where was Matty? Where was the team? How could any of them let this happen? The reality was he thought bitterly that he should have been there, it was his job to protect Mac, it was in his blood, He should have been there to give him safe, to rescue him. What the hell had happened? God he was going to kill someone, all the people who did this to Mac, he was going to a bullet in every single one of them. His rage was directed to Webber too, she had to answer for Mac’s wrecked state, how had she let it get this far?? And then there was Marriott laying next to him to add to the confusion of this fucked up situation, a girl, a woman really he hadn’t seen in a decade, she was here and somehow tied up in all this and she was the one who had called him, not Matty, not Phoenix. God what a mess. Dalton knelt down next to Mac, he pulled off his heavy gloves

“It’s me bud, I swear, I’m real. I’ve come to take you home.” Jack said softly, reaching out a hand. Mac flinched away from him

“No, no, no, no. Leave me!” Mac whimpered again, refusing to take his hands away from his ears.

Mac’s second cry woke Marriott up from the heap she had landed in on the floor, after she removed a few bits of broken door from her hair, she took in the scene in front of her. Dalton was kneeling next to Mac, trying to make contact with him, but Mac for whatever reason wasn’t having any of it. Marriott knew their history, even if Mac didn’t trust Jack now, their shared experiences in Afghanistan must still be buried in his head, she thought. She shook herself a little in an effort to clear the stars currently spinning around her head and crawled forward, stabbing pain shooting up her side. She took a deep breath

“Mac, it’s Marriott. Please open your eyes. I swear to you I’m here.” She murmured softly

At this point Jack became aware of the cohort of soldiers in the room still standing around him. He got up and ordered them all out, barking orders about reporting to Director Webber on the ground. Marriott positioned herself next to Mac and spoke softly in his ear

“Mac, do you remember Jack? He was your overwatch in Afghanistan. We were all there together for a little while…” She said

“I know, I know him, I know his face…but he died. I went to his funeral, I carried his coffin, he can’t be here now.” Mac murmured

Marriott looked up and Jack and mouthed “died??” questioning him. Jack shook his head in frustration at her. Marriott continued as best she could, clearly she was missing a whole chunk of information from somewhere. A story for later, hopefully.

“Look Mac, whatever you remember, I swear to you Jack is right here in front of you. He’s here to rescue you, to watch out for you just like he did in the sandbox.”

Mac opened his eyes, he looked at Marriott and then at Jack and swallowed. Marriott made to get up at this point, she realised that these two needed to talk and didn’t want to intrude on them or say anything stupid.

“Mac, he’s here for you, try and talk to him. I can leave you both alone. I’ll be outside.” Marriott said half getting up, grasping her side.

“NO…” Mac snapped gripping her wrist

“You gave me your word, you wouldn’t leave me.” Mac added a strange tangle of threatening and pleading.

“Okay, okay Mac…easy.. I’m not going anywhere.” Marriott said, easing his hand off her wrist, she sat back down next to him and waited, trying to keep her mind off the pain in her ribs.

Dalton watched this little scene heartbroken, the fact that Mac couldn’t trust his own eyes was horrifying, that he [Jack] wasn’t somehow his go to anymore, it felt horrible. He wished Mac would yell at him, scream at him for lying to him, for disappearing for so long, show him any emotion that wasn’t fuelled by fear.

“Hoss, I’m right here. I’m sorry I left you, I hate myself for it, for the ruse, I. It was necessary for the job, I had to disappear just for a little while. But Mac, I swear to you on our friendship, on all the pain we shared in Afghanistan, on everything we went through in the Phoenix I’m here now. I know I’m late, but I’m right here now.”

Mac stared at Dalton, his aching head flooding with memories and associations from him. Bruce Willis, old cigars and whisky, four guys with two bullets. But the funeral was so clear in his mind, he could see every detail of it, the geeky picture, the flowers and the drinks and the emptiness realising he wasn’t there anymore.

“I know you. I I I, you’re Jack….” Mac said trying to keep the panic out of his voice

“That’s right kid, I’m Jack.” Dalton said holding out his hand to MacGyver

“You left for good…” Mac continued

“I know kid…I know, it was the worst mistake of my life. I’m here now though and I want to take you home.”

Mac swallowed and simply nodded; he took Jack’s offered hand with Marriott taking his other arm. Slowly the trio began to walk towards the hole where the door had been, unfortunately that was when the explosions started all around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a wrench! I felt bad just writing this, does the scene work? Believable or not? Should there be more conversation less? Thoughts appreciated.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our trio try and escape the explosion, we get a reunion and a flashback. 
> 
> This is quite a key moment in the story, let me know what you think!

They all stumbled backwards as the building start to shake and the wood and plastic fell around them. Marriott fell back towards the window and sliced her hand on the broken glass. She swore as blood poured, she gripped her fist in an attempt to try and stop the bleeding. Her side was in agony as well, her ribs whatever was wrong with them were making themselves felt. While Mac went dizzy from the noise and the exploding debris, he lent against the wall trying to steady himself. Dalton managed to keep himself upright and looked expectantly at both of them

“Any bright ideas kids?” he yelled above the noise of the explosions

They looked at each other and back at Jack

“Alright…the buildings exploding beneath us, so we go up.” Marriott responded

“Right…we escape the blasts and something might be there to help us get out.” Mac added

“And if there isn’t??” Dalton yelled

“We worry about that when we get there.” Marriott snapped back

So the three moved forward again, stumbling and running as the building started to collapse. They found another door on the side of the room and raced out with just about enough time to look back and see it collapse behind them. Mac found some primal extinct taking over, his lack of memory, the pain and the aches in his body were all pushed to the back of his mind, finding a route out and getting everyone to safety and that was what mattered and nothing else.

“Dalton…what’s happened inside. Do you have MacGyver” Matty piped in over his radio

“Yeah Matty, I got him…yeah, the yeah the building is kind of…. collapsing around us, we’re going up.”

“The roof isn’t stable enough for you and Mac, I won’t be able to get a helicopter up there to lift you out.”

“Don’t worry Matty, I got two nerds with me this time, I’m sure we’ll find a way”

“Two?? What does that mean?” Webber snapped back

“Gotta go, got a focus on not dying…bye” Jack responded switching off his radio

Marriott was half listening and was deeply curious about “Mattty”, but her mind was mostly focusing on keep going up the stairs and not passing out. She saw Mac trip and smack his knees, she hauled him up and dragged him on. Dalton followed them up, jumping around to avoid the falling wood and stone. Finally, they got to the top floor, just before the roof. They didn’t have long, the explosions intensified, and fire started to snake up the stairs following them. Mac and Marriott started to race around the room, looking for something, anything that would get them out while Dalton watched and tried not to get singed, after a few minutes one came back holding two large fire extinguishers and then the other had what looked like body bags

“Right”

“Liquid foam…it’ll fill the”

“Yes.”

“Dalton get over here.”

Jack laughed despite the horror of the situation, it was all terribly familiar and now he had two of them doing it! Then Mac panicked, there were only two of them

“What about you?” Mac said

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll figure something out.” Marriott responded pulling some tape covered in dust from a nearby table and slicing open the tubing of the extinguisher and connecting them up while Mac did the same. Marriott pushed her one onto Jack

“Seriously girl, how are you going to get out of this inferno? I can carry you I swear.” Dalton said starting to cough

“That’s sweet Dalton, but you focus on him” Marriott said putting her hands on his shoulders gesturing towards Mac

Mac pulled the bag onto his back, some bell of familiarity ringing in the back of his mind. Marriott started to pushed them both towards the windows

“Look Mac, I’m right behind you. Listen… I gave you my word. I swear I’ll be right behind you.”

“Marriott come on, I’ll grab you, we’ll both land together or…Jack and we’ll carry you between us.” Mac pleaded with her

Marriott responded by grabbing a broken chair and determinedly smashing one window while Jack shot out the other one.

“Don’t do anything stupid kid, seriously” Dalton said glaring at Marriott

“You know me!” Marriott said grinning, her adrenaline running high

“Mac I’ll be fine now go!”

She gave Mac’s hand a squeeze and then in perhaps not the wisest move pushed him hard out of the window. Jack glared and followed, she heard the two of them scream as they went down, but then she heard the fmmpph of a thud landing and the groans that came out. Two down she thought, one to go. Her eyes searched the room, old IV pole with a spiked broken end, old wiring, more tape: this is going to be a serious long shot. A few minutes and some bent metal later, she throw the pole out of the window and it landed in the tree on the other side, fortunately Marriott didn’t have too much time think s the next explosion coming up behind her made the jump out of the window pretty easy

Meanwhile on the ground the duo groaned when they landed and then Mac started to laugh

“I think maybe we’ve done that before?” He said grinning

“Yeah kid…something like that” Jack responded laughing, god it had been a long time since he had seen Mac laugh

Mac sat up in time to watch Marriott swing out of the window and into a tree, the world seemed to slow as she smashed into the branches. Then his own head started to hurt again, he shut his eyes in a bid to make the pain depart put his hands onto his face.

“Kid…I’m here. You’re almost home.” Jack said next to him

“No...it’s not that…ahhh” Mac groaned

Matty in the meantime had watched the insane display and had sped over tac team and medical people in tow as well as three very anxious and stressed team members. She couldn’t quite believe it when she saw Mac and Dalton sitting there, it was like some strange blast from the past, she was so relieved and happy, but tangled. She knew a serious reckoning was coming. She walked over to put her hand on Mac’s shoulder, he flinched and made to shuffle away from her

“NO…don’t I….” Mac responded putting his hands over his eyes, he just had to make this pain go away

“Mac, I’m sorry. It’s Matty, I’m here.” Webber responded trying to stay as calm

“No…no, no I don’t know you. Leave…” Mac’s breath caught as he tried to speak “Leave …I don’t know you…you’re not…you’re not…”

Bozer, Riley and Desi who had come up behind Mac stopped short. Webber gestured for them to step back further. This was not the happy, out of this world reunion they had all hoped for. It was true Mac was alive, but this figure sitting on the grass, it simply didn’t look like him. He’d become so horribly thin, a mess of tangled dirty blond hair, scarring up and down his arms and the fear, the fear of everything and everyone around him, it was so…not Mac.

Bozer simply stared ad Mac with his eyes tightly shut sitting there, he couldn’t believe that his best friend of so many years had been reduced to such a heap…of well nothing. How could his friend be like this? Was Mac even still in there after all this time?

While Riley couldn’t quite comprehend it, that Mac had emerged after so long, how had he stayed alive? What had happened to him? What the fuck was Jack doing here? How was he tangled up in all this? What horrific mess had he gotten them into? Her brain was filled thousands of questions.

Whereas Desi, some part of her broke inside. She desperately wanted to hold Mac in her arms, to kiss him, to run her hands through his hair, to tell him it was all going to be okay, but it wasn’t…he was an absolute mess and…it was hard to be able to see the man she loved in there.

None of them said anything, they all did as Webber asked. Jack knelt next to Mac speaking softly, ignoring the chaos of a burning building and soldiers around them. He didn’t put his hand on him, but he stayed close speaking as calmly as his own jangled nerves could manage

“Kid...it’s okay, you can open your eyes. No one’s going to hurt you, your family is here. We all love you. We’re all here because we love you Mac. It’s going to be okay.”

But Mac refused to open his eyes, his head ached and it was all too much…too fast. Too many people, too much sound, his mind was struggling to not exactly comprehend it. It was perhaps more that he didn’t quite trust what he was seeing, after being tormented and tricked for so long, he was convinced that it would all end up as some kind of cruel joke and he’d be locked in his hole again and never leave.

Marriott meanwhile had smashed into the trees (just as she had planned kind of) and landed on a set of new wooden spikey bits. The soldiers that were milling about had surrounded the area got distracted by the noise and trained their guns on her, she did her best to come down with her hands raised (no mean feat when you’re climbing down a tree). But eventually she did manage to slide down with her hands up in there, she murmured nice encouraging at the men with guns. But the soldiers did not lower their guns. Jacob raced forward (he might have been as crazy as she was)

“She’s with me…Christ Marriott what the hell did you do?”

“Me…I didn’t blow up the building”

Jacob threw his arms around her, he couldn’t believe she was alive. He hadn’t seen her in almost three months, but she was there, a little thinner and more frazzled, but there and in his arms. Marriott happily returned the hug, she always liked hugging Jacob, he was huge and he could wrap his arms around and protect her, even if it was just for a moment.

“All right you two…back up.” A soldier responded

The two of them sprang apart

“What about the live shot?” Marriott murmured

“The camera’s still going…” Jacob responded under his breath, she grinned

“Yann’s going to kill you…”

“It wouldn’t be for the first time.”

“Quiet!” a soldier snapped

They moved towards the cameras and crew and the chaos of civilians. Marriott suddenly moved forward again, the soldiers stopped her, a pain shooting up her side

“Mac! Dalton! You there??” She called, she could just about make them out in the distance.

Mac registered the voice and looked up and saw her struggling against the soldiers. He got up flanked by Jack, Dalton indicated for Webber to shift out of the way. They walked towards Marriott, Mac stumbling slightly, he shook his head when Jack tried to grab him. Matty gestured for the soldiers to let him pass .

And suddenly there she was; his lifeline, his real thing, his security, his only security in the last months. They hugged each other and touched heads quietly, he put his hands on her shoulders and she gripped one and smiled at him

“Hey”

“I kept my word, like I promised.”

He smiled at her, then a voice interrupted her

“Marriott is that you?” Bozer who had followed Mac over. Marriott looked up and there he was; Wilt Bozer, even after all these years, her heart gave just a little flutter. She grinned and held out her hand, still keeping one on Mac just behind him, Bozer drew her into a hug.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Long story Boze…it’s been a long time.”

“Damn right it has, what you have been doing with yourself for all these years?”

“I’ve been busy.”

“I’m sure.”

Mac stood uncertain next to her, then a strange flash of memory entered his brain. He and Bozer were 12 again in school, his father was gone, his grandfather was here now. It was an ordinary day, the classroom was loud and chatty, people were throwing are throwing paper planes and arguing about TV or chatting about their weekend. The teacher hadn’t arrived he and Bozer were fighting /trying to talk over each other as always, Bozer saw the latest Bond movie and Mac had just figured out how to make bottle rockets work and they can’t get the words out faster enough.

“All right everybody, settle down” Mr Lincoln announced as he entered the room with a grand sweep, the students went into their seats. Mr Lincoln always meant business, Mac remembered he was dull and serious and frankly not bright. But he you couldn’t love all your teachers. He was an overly thin man in a suit with a too tight tie and old briefcase. Nothing they haven’t seen before, what followed he was the more interesting element. What followed him was a girl, looking small with plaits on both sides, a heavy backpack on her back, her head is bowed and she carries a large book in her arms, more she was holding onto it for dear life and staring determinedly at the floor. She waited at the side as Mr Lincoln cleared his throat. Her face was half hidden by long plaits.

“Okay everyone, keep quiet, I’d like you to welcome our newest student, a late addition to the class this year. Meabh, mab, mayaa” the awkward moment where Mr Lincoln tried to pronounce the girls’ name continued on for a few minutes. The girl goes red matching the roots of her hair and the class sniggered at the scene. Eventually the girl muttered

“Just call me Marriott, it’s fine.”

“What’s that?” Lincoln says

“Just call me Marriott, that’s what everyone calls me.” Mr Lincoln didn’t like being corrected, the scene became more awkward.

“Alright, class this is Miss Marriott.” Mr Lincoln says, the girl looked like she was about to interrupt, but then thought better of it and retreated to the back of the classroom at top speed. Mac saw a flash of her as she shot past, he felt sorry for her. He didn’t like his first name either. The day eventually continued on as normal, the girl stays at the back and said nothing and staring at her desk or the floor. Although Mac attempted to smile at her more than once in the day.

Then he was back in the field, surrounded by soldiers and burning buildings and people with Marriott holding his hand, his head aching and his hands raw and broken. He looked around; some part of his mind did recognise Bozer, but he didn’t trust it. He was convinced that something or someone would take it from him. He looked around at the others, he registered some of the other patients being checked by hospital workers, Ben was still around and Masha as well as a few others. He looked at the small woman who was in charge, she looked terrifying. He kind of recognised her, but trying to recall it was like staring at a faded, blurred photo. His eyes travelled to the other two women, one carrying a backpack with a mass of dark curls, every part of her screamed steel, but she smiled at him. Mac’s head began to ache again, then finally he looked at the other woman there. Her hair was dark too, her front and shoulders were covered in tattoos. She was beautiful and he did know her, but…it was so vague and painful. 


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mac and Marriott interact a little more. Marriott faces the consequences of her actions. The team muses on Mac, Boze's and Marriott's connection.

Marriott returned to Mac after her awkward interaction with Bozer. None of them really said anything, it had been a long time since they’d been together as a trio. There was a lot of talking to be done, it would have been awkward normal circumstances. But this was a nightmare. Bozer’s mind snapped into action

“Desi, Riley, this is Marriott. Mac and I were in school together in Mission City”

“Hi”

“Good to meet you”

“How come you never mentioned her?” Riley responded, suspicions instantly up

“We lost touch” Marriott said smiling. She didn’t have the mental energy for an interrogation about her personal life. Bozer nodded in agreement, he perhaps did not want to go into all the gory details either. Webber moved forward at this point

“This is Matty Webber, our boss” Bozer added

“I’m also running this operation. While I appreciate your help, we need your people to leave right now.”

“According to what law?”

“What?”

Marriott was never fond of being bossed around and Webber she took an immediate dislike to.

“You’re not police, you’ve got not right to kick any of us out.”

“I don’t think you quite know what you’re dealing with here young lady.”

Marriott snorted. The arrogance of the woman was astonishing, this must be “Matty” that Jack had mentioned and presumably one of the bosses of the Phoenix Foundation. Webber was about to retort when another voice came out of nowhere

“There she is!!” It was Cotton, bloodied and bleeding, but very much alive.

Mac blanched at the sight of him. Marriott grabbed his arm to stop him from falling. She put a hand on his shoulder to try and say something calming

“Her….she came into my hospital and posed as a fake doctor and burnt it down” Cotton screeched

He was flanked by local police, one of the officers came forward

“I did not blow up the building.” Marriott responded simply

“Well, we’re going to have to take you in for questioning.”

“No you don’t. I don’t have to go anywhere with you” Marriot snapped stepping back

Then the conversation descended into a screaming match as Cotton complained and whined for all it was worth and Marriott swore at him. Dalton moved forward to keep hold of Mac, Webber added her own voice to the fray. The local officer came forward determined to cuff Marriott, she held up her hands and away from him. Jacob also started arguing on her behalf. Unfortunately the local officer was sharp and did not like being talked down too and when Marriott turned her head away, he managed to snap one of the cuffs onto her wrists

“You motherfucker” She snapped at him

Webber was a little bit relieved. She didn’t need a nosy, unhelpful reporter to cope with, without this woman, the others would also most likely depart. As more police came forward and Marriott’s hands were pulled by her back, Webber turned her focus back to the scene and to Mac still standing in a corner. However before she had a chance to say anything, he moved forward

“Where are you taking her? She’s…not done anything. She saved me. She saved all of us.”

“She’s going in for questioning”

“He’s one of my patients, don’t listen to him. He’s highly unstable”

“You’re a monster! Everything you did to me...I swear to God”

“Mac back off…they’re just doing their jobs” Webber responded

“No I won’t…I don’t know you…I don’t know them. I’m not going with you…unless…unless she comes to” Mac added gesturing towards Marriott

“What Mac…come on. I”

Dalton pulled Webber aside at this point and spoke quietly in her ear. There was a lot of furious whispering and arguing and then Matty sighed.

“Alright gentlemen. Officers I appreciate that you have a job to do and you need to question her.”

Webber pulled the officer aside and then spoke softly to him, leaving Marriott standing with her hands behind her back straining a little. Her headache was starting to get to her and a little bit of blood loss, her side ached and her hand felt raw. She started to wobble but stayed on her feet. Desi watched from the side lines, she had said very little up to this point, her mind was filled with questions and she was frightened what she could do to Mac in such a vulnerable state. Mac moved out of Jack’s grip and moved towards Marriott

“I’ll fix this I promise” he said

“Hey..hey none of this is your fault Mac. You know that right”

“But you wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for me.”

“Oh Mac I…”

Matty interrupted this little exchange and began barking orders. Marriott could come with them if she stayed in handcuffs, an officer also had to accompany them. The main team should head back to the Phoenix oFundation, Mac needed to be looked at as did Jack. This produced more arguing, Jacob was screaming at Matty and calling his editor. He also kept firm hold of his camera and kept it on, despite the best efforts of the soldiers around him. Meanwhile Ben and the other patients were being taken care of, the police who weren’t trying to arrest Marriott were taking statements. While paramedics took care of the wounded as best, they could, and the building still burned behind them all.

The whole scenario did not end well, Marriott remained handcuffed throughout, her side was bleeding against her dark clothes and the pain in her hand only got worse. The team virtually had to drag Mac into one of the cars they had come in, Jack did his best to gently push Mac forward, but it was a horrific struggle. MacGyver desperately tried to fight back the pain striking at his grey matter, but it was a losing battle. Dalton ended up pleading with him to get inside and Mac eventually gave in out of exhaustion. Marriott accompanied by her ‘officer’ was pushed in next to them. Desi, Riley and Bozer followed in a separate car. Webber stayed behind for a little while directing the scene and Jacob kept filming. Marriott and he had had a shouting match as she got dragged away, editors would be called and the Times’s lawyers would be put on it. Jacob had also hugged her again and grabbed a phone out of her back pocket, so all the work that had been done was not wasted.

In the car as they drove away Jack tried to talk to MacGyver once again

“Hey hoss, you hanging in there”

“Jack please...I…everything hurts. Just stop, I can’t…” Mac responded moving away from Dalton on instinct. He lent against the side of the car his hands over his ears shutting his eyes once again

“Come on kid. Talk to me..”

“Just leave me…you left me once. You’ll leave me again, just...just do it now and get it over with...leave me be”

Dalton looked at Marriott expectantly. She’d been his go to before, she glared at him but obliged. Most of her energy had been focused on planning her next move and escaping, but clearly that had to be put on hold for now. She shifted around in her seat, she managed to pull one of the bobby pins she kept pinned to her long sweater out and after a grunts her hands emerged. The officer was about to say something, when she come him off.

“Relax, you can chain me back up in a second.” Marriott responded

Marriott took off her seat belt and knelt in front of Mac. 

“Hey Mac, I’m here. Stay with me. I’m not going anywhere, Jack’s not going anywhere.”

Still Mac would not open his eyes

“Mac, please open your eyes, for me. Mac..I”

At this point Marriott did something that she was perhaps a little ashamed of. She groaned audibly. The car went round a corner sharply, so it added to the performance. Marriott clutched her side and fell forward onto Mac quite deliberately. The movement forced Mac to open his eyes. He took in the blood on her hand and the dried stained through her clothes

“You’re hurt. I had no idea…I”

“Mac can you help me? I...the pain in my side.”

Mac needed no encouragement, he pulled her forward and forced her between Dalton and him. They sat as awkward threesome on the back seat as the Phoenix driver drove them towards an air strip. Marriott despite her best efforts fell asleep on Mac and he on her, his hand still gripping hold of hers. Jack sat on the edge awkwardly. Matty called him and they spoked in whispered tones

“When are you going to get to the strip?”

“Don’t know, soon I hope. Mac needs to be home and it’s getting real awkward with the officer here”

“About that. We’re going to ditch him as soon as you get there understand.”

“What seriously?”

“Yep. We need the mess that is this whole situation cleared up speedily. We don’t need local police getting involved.”

“Alright, I’ll think of something.”

“And Jack we need to have at talk about this woman. Marriott”

“Yeah about that”

“Save it for when you’re back in LA”

**

Boze, Riley and Desi were all waiting at the airport for them

“I can’t believe...after all this time. It’s like some part of him isn’t even there any more.” Riley said sadly

“Don’t say that. Mac is still there, it’s just buried.” Bozer responded

“He must have been through hell and…it changed him. But he’s with us now or will be.” Desi said attempting to play peacemaker

“I know…I know. It’s just when I saw him. It was like looking at a ghost.”

Desi couldn’t disagree, she just stared at the tarmac below sadly

“Speaking of Boze, who the hell is Marriott??” Riley asked

“An excellent question, you guys were pretty vague. Come on tell us”

“I don’t know if I should. I mean it’s Mac’s history too”

“Come on talk. It’s not as if we’re going to talk about anything else”

Their failure to rescue their friend and the crippling guilt they all felt was conveniently side stepped. Boze sighed

“I was telling the truth, we did all go to school together. She joined later, when Mac and I were like 11 I guess? We became friends real fast. She was weird and tough. Mac and her connected super quick. She’s the only person I’ve ever seen who thinks just like him.”

“She sounds amazing, what happened” Riley added, her curiosity peaked

“Mac and her…they fought like a lot as we got older.”

“Keep going…details please.”

“The first time it happened it was all when we were going off to college. Mac thought she was going to MIT with him, but she didn’t even apply. She went for Harvard, NYU a bunch of others. I was happy, I liked the idea we might end up the same college together. But Mac he was so mad at her, he was convinced they were going to build something amazing together, I don’t know like change the world. But her major was like completely different, she was an arts nerd through and through. And just wasn’t interested…anyway they had this huge blow out. I remember it like even now; Mac screamed at her, told her she was wasting her life. That she’d made the wrong choice, it was a whole thing”

“Wow…it doesn’t sound like Mac”

“No, not at all. But something about Marriott always got to him, they were too similar I reckon. Both too crazy and weird and yeah…I think MIT scared him too and then the idea of going off on his own and then something in him just snapped. And yeah there was the incident, but that was years before.”

“The incident, you mean when Mac blew up the school?”

“Technically the science lab and the football field”

“How is she involved in that?”

“That’s another story, for...look there they are.”

Desi and Riley followed Bozer’s pointing finger and there it was. The Phoenix car pulling up. Dalton got out, followed by a shaky Mac then Marriott. They noticed the cuffs were gone and an officer that was supposed to come with him. The trio saw Jack usher the two of them forward and start to argue with the officer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So thoughts? This was quite a hard bit to write. I wanted to do a little more team time, but also not repeat what we'd seen before. Mac is like a really broken figure at this point, is it working at all or am I repeating myself? Hard to tell :) Marriott's history with the boy's is also quite complicated so I'm doing my best to leave the breadcrumbs and not be annoying. Let me know what you think!


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this is a big update with so much angst. The team is back together again kind of...
> 
> Feedback super welcome!! This was quite intense. Tell me if you think I got everyone right.

Jack got out of the car followed by the wounded duo. Marriott lent heavily on Mac and they walked slowly together. He turned around ready to face the cop who was a little slow on the uptake. The officer had been sloth like getting out car, so Dalton speedily shifted back to the car and n a fit of childish behaviour simply slammed the door on him. The car provided by the Phoenix locked automatically (a safety protocol). He turned to the driver and asked him to take him back the way he came and gave him a little extra for his trouble, the officer was screaming all the while as the car turned around. Dalton grinned to himself, problem one taken care of, unfortunately that was easiest one of the day.

He watched the two nerds, it was along time since he’d called them that. Memories of Afghanistan flashed in his head, Marriott sitting around a campfire laughing with them, Marriott scribbling away in a notebook, finding Marriott when they were on mission, arguing with her and of course seeing Mac with her. He lit up when she dropped in on them; well maybe that was the wrong phrase. He shifted drastically, initially he was furious and confused and then after a little while he threw his arms around the girl. It was then that Dalton realised quite how lonely Mac had become despite his positive demeanour, but it had all ended in such a mess. He shuddered at the memory and his own behaviour, he hated lying and…well that was one of the many memories that he kept buried in his life.

But now they were back together again, in the worst possible circumstances. Mac was alive, well he was still standing. But he was broken, horribly broken inside, hell Jack could barely recognise the man he’d grown to think of his brother in that shell. And it was his fault! If he’d been here, if he’d been watching over him like he was supposed to Mac wouldn’t have ended up in that hole. And Matty she had so much to answer for. It was a nightmarish chaotic tangle. Where had the rest of them been when Mac had been driven slowly mad? What the hell had Desi been doing? All this span around in Dalton’s head as he kept a careful eye on the two of them wobbling in front of him, he could see the other three waiting by the jet. That was a mess of a totally different order; Riley in particular. He didn’t even know if she would ever forgive him for lying to her for so long.

**

While Jack dealt with a knotted web of guilt, Mac slowly walked along. He had insisted on having Marriott’s arm over his shoulder. She was hurt and needed help and it felt good to aid someone. Some part of his brain told him this was what he did, he helped people before his time in the clinic. He didn’t really know if that was true, he just felt calmer around her and she’d saved his life. She’d rescued him from hell, the least he could do was help her walk.

Helping someone else distracted Mac from his own injuries too, one of his legs ached so badly (it was actually broken). He was limping heavily, but all that time under Severin had drilled it into his brain that you didn’t tell people how badly you were hurt. It only made the whole situation worse, injuries made you weak, it broke you and he was already broken. Mac pushed these thoughts aside. It was strange being out in the sunshine for such an extended period. He liked the feeling of warmth on his face and it was nice to walk along something that wasn’t a hospital floor even if the gravel wasn’t much fun for his feet. He kept one eye on where he was going, he picked up the three eager faces looking at him. He felt a strange stab of what? Guilt…he felt ashamed that these people, well not so much Boze, they were so happy to see him and he could barely remember their faces. Even Boze, he could remember his name, but the memories that came to him were half formed, like photographs that had been in the sun far too long. Then there was Jack walking behind him, the one who had abandoned him, the one who had left and never came back, well he came back when it was too late. Then there was the issue of where they were even going. Mac didn’t know, Dalton had pleaded with him and half forced him into the car babbling on about the Phoenix Foundation and Matty Webber. MacGyver had no desire to go, it didn’t strike any bells in his memory, but he realised that he didn’t have too much choice. Obedience had been drilled into him too in the past year. It was a way of surviving, if you didn’t do what you were told, things could turn out much worse. Maybe this foundation could help him or maybe it was worse that where he had been before? Could that even be possible?

He was desperate to think that all these people who were so terribly interested in him wanted to help him. But at his core, he didn’t believe it. Mac wondered if this was all some kind of trick, some kind of test set by Severin? He didn’t understand it, but then he’d never understood anything Severin had done to him. Maybe this time he could run and he could take Marriott with him? And Bozer? Or was Boze a trick too? The doc was the only thing that seemed solid, his only tether to the outside world. He hated the thought that he was leading her into something dangerous. He was determined to find a way out of this mess.

Slowly Mac walked on, one step at a time, if he could just help one person that would be enough and then he could disappear. If he could get away from all this he could find himself again.

**

Marriott had her own problems, her little performance to rouse Mac had worked a bit too well. It was true that she’d been hurt, but nothing she couldn’t handle and now she would have to play the invalid for god knows how long. The plane also worried her, clearly Dalton wanted to take Mac back to well wherever it was he belonged, and the implication was she was clearly coming too. She’d have to get herself out of that, no way was she going with them. She didn’t really trust any of them, in any other circumstance she wouldn’t have trusted Mac either. Her own memories of the Phoenix and...well they were short but still vivid. If she could avoid interacting with them all it would be ideal, she had her own life to get back too.

She had a sudden longing for her own life: New York, seeing her parents, her brothers again and Jacob of course. Falling drunkedly in to bed together, watching movies and arguing or running away from danger. Marriott gripped her sore hand to stop herself crying, she didn’t need that now. And then there was Mac at the centre of it all, part of her wanted to run from him and the mess he carried in his wake. He was so badly hurt and traumatised, it was horrifying. She felt very underqualified to deal with any of it, she wanted help him too, but she was kind of just making it up as she went along. She could potentially make him worse. Marriott thought she brought Dalton and him back together, surely that would be enough? Jack was always his friend, far more than her (honesty and self-reflection wasn’t something she was going for at this point) he could help MacGyver, she didn’t need to be there.

The confused trio made it to the plane, awkward pleasantries were exchanged with Desi, Riley and Bozer. Riley could barely look Jack in the eye and shifted onto the plane first, Desi gave Mac an encouraging smile and offered him her hand. He looked panicked, it was only after Bozer had reassured him that it would be fine that he took it tentatively. She squeezed his hand and helped him up the steps to the plane. Marriott unhooked herself from Mac and nodded encouragement at him assuring him she’d be fine and thanking him for his help.

It left Bozer and Jack with Marriott at the bottom of the steps.

“Boze, why don’t you go up and join the others? I gotta speak to Jack.”

“You sure? You look like you’ve seen better days.”

“Thanks, I’ll be fine”

Bozer shrugged eyeing the two of them. He was certain he was missing some vital detail that neither were telling him, but he also knew that Mac was the priority.

“So kid, you next? Bozer is right, you need a bit of help. That little performance you pulled wasn’t so far off the truth back there.”

“You’re welcome Jack. I’ll be fine.”

“Get on the plane Marriott”

“About that”

“Nope, I am not dealing with that crap. No, you’re coming with us, I can’t, I won’t deal with your bullshit now.”

“My bullshit? Seriously? You’re getting angry at me? I hate to break this to you. But I have my own life to get back too. I’m not getting on a plane to god knows where with you and people I don’t know.”

“So you’re abandoning Mac?”

“Abandoning Mac? Seriously that’s the line you're pulling! Well you should fucking know Jack. When I left you in Afghanistan, he was your best friend, your little brother. You kept him alive for Christ’s sake. Guess that all disappeared when you got state side? you have absolutely no right to lecture me. None at all. The only reason you’re even here is because I called you! I told you where he was! I thought your shared history would help or something. You’re a lot of things Jack Dalton, but I never took you for a fucking hypocrite.”

Dalton was furious, of course she’d been right. He was plagued with guilt and she’d poked him hard, he grabbed her arm

“You’re getting on that god damn plane because you owe me. Marriott I kept your secret all these years, I lied to my best friend. If you don’t get on that plane, I’ll spill the beans right here.”

“ A spy lecturing me on lying, what a joke…Jack let go of me.”

“What was that???”

“Fine…fine, let go. Jack please…let go.”

Jack released her arm and pushed her forward. Marriott felt her arm throbbing and she was now fuming. She was trapped. Dalton on the other hand was relieved, problem two of the day had been solved. But of course he was ashamed too, he’d been gripping her so hard, he might have broken her arm. The web of shame, guilt and rage had only gotten worse.

**

The inside of the plane was plush and comfortable. Mac perched awkwardly on one of the sofas and waited. The two women sat on the chairs not saying anything. Bozer sat on a sofa opposite Mac and tried to smile. None of them really knew what to say, they all heard the raised voices, Mac even tried to get up. But Bozer gently pushed him back to sit on the sofa again assuring him everything would be alright.

“Mac, please sit down.”

“But…I mean. She’s only here because of me. If something’s happened. Dalton’s only here because of me, that’s why you’re all..”  
  
“Mac…it will be okay. Jack’s a big boy and Marriott, you remember her from school? She could take on anyone?”

Mac laughed weakly at Bozer. The brothers sat together

“I’m sorry I’ve caused you so much trouble Bozer.”  
  
“Aww…Mac you’re best my friend, you do know that right? You…do you remember that?”

“I…um… I know you. I recognise you, but it’s all fuzzy. Does that make any sense?”

“It’s fine Mac. Anything you’ve forgotten, it’ll come. And if it doesn’t…that’s okay too. I’ll remember for both of us”

Boze got up at that point and turned away from Mac, he wiped the tears from his eyes. He turned as Jack and Marriott emerged through the door, Marriott rubbing her arm.

“See dude? Everything’s fine.” Boze responded smiling, he crossed his fingers behind him. He sat down again on the opposite sofa. Marriott saw the duo and after a moment’s hesitation ­­plonked herself next to Mac. Dalton took a seat next to Bozer and the plane lifted off.

“You doing okay?” Mac asked tentatively

Marriott was touched that Mac with all his broken bones and bruises was more concerned about her.

“Yeah I’ll be fine, nothing I can’t cope with.” She murmured back “What about you?”

“I’ll be alright too.”

“Mac…I mean. I know that, but you’ll need to be checked out by a doc...someone eventually.”

“It’s fine, injuries make you weak. I’ll recover on my own.”

Marriott wanted to scream, Severin’s bullshit being parroted at her. Mac picked up on her shift in mood.

“No really! I’ll be fine. It’s nothing to worry about. It’s bothering you obviously. I mean you were hurt too. You should take care of yourself, I’m sure one of them…or I can…maybe I can help.”

“Mac, I…um I…look thank you. I’m okay for the moment, if I need your help. If you think you need any help…you tell me too right?”

Mac nodded at her while Jack and Bozer pretended not to hear every word of their conversation. Dalton tried to think, he had to try and reach Mac somehow. He had to find his boy and bring him back, this frightened gibbering wreck wasn’t who Mac was. Surely his hoss, his wunderkind had to still be in there. Marriott got up and stretched her arms out partly to give herself something to do, she decided to walk around and explore this very fancy jet, she’d assured Mac she wasn’t going anywhere far away. All he had to do was call her name if he wanted her. He nodded again, but then just stared at the floor. Jack saw his chance and switched seats, Bozer found an excuse to get up and follow Marriott on her exploring.

“Hey kid” Jack said

“Hi”

“I would ask you if you were doing okay, but I know that’s a stupid question”

“I’m alive…do you want something from me? Do you want to ask me something?”

Dalton’s heart broke a little bit at that

“No….well. I’m just here to look out for you.”

“Marriott said that I know you, that we were friends”

“She’s right. I’ve known you along time. We were, we are best friends.”

“Then… I mean, I recognise you sort of. I know your face and Jack, I remember your name. But not much else or I think they’re like flashbacks maybe. I don’t really know. I need to ask though, she and you said that we were friends. Did you send me there…back there to (Mac paused and swallowed)… to Severin’s clinic? Were you the one who wanted to fix me? Who thought I needed fixing?”

“What??? Mac I…That’s crazy talk. Is that what they told you in that place? Jesus Christ…Mac, you don’t need fixing. You are fine, just as you are. No, I’m serious, none of your friends, your family would send you there. That place, it was a hellhole, a shit hole of the worst order. No one belongs there.”

“Then…I mean, that’s what they told me. They said my head was broken, that I need fixing. They told me that so many times.”

“Mac…God, it’s not true. You are not broken.”

“Then why was I sent there…how did I end up there?”

At this Jack paused, he wasn’t really sure if he should explain the whole super-secret spy aspect of Mac’s life. He wanted to jog the kid’s memory sure, but would that just be too much for him to handle? Unfortunately, Dalton’s hesitation was not well timed. Mac took a very different meaning

“I did belong there, didn’t I ? I mean maybe you didn’t send them there? But I was there for a reason? Something was wrong with me, obviously. That’s why I ended up in that place. Was I mad? Did I do something horrible to someone? I figured I must have done something horrific in that place, that’s what I thought when I was lying there on the floor…with my nose broken or…when they shoved cattle prods in my back…I must have done something really disgusting…really cruel. Tell me what it was, go on. It would make sense now, I think I need to know, it might help me make sense of some it of all these months...of all of it”

“Kid…Mac please you’re breaking my heart. I…there wasn’t a reason that you were there. You didn’t do anything to be sent there, it was a corrupt hole. I swear…you shouldn’t have been in that place…”

“Tell me the truth…please…I want to know. Tell me why I ended up there. Look I really think it would help. I need to know something, anything…to explain it….”

“Mac…I”

“It was a mission.”

Both Jack and Mac looked back. Desi had stood up from her seat opposite Riley

“A mission?”

“I uhh…Desi…Can we talk please?” Jack said glaring at her. Mac registered the looks between them and was more confused than ever.

“No Jack. Can you get us a couple of drinks? I think we could all use one after today?” Desi said jerking her head to the back bar on the end of the plane. Dalton gritted his teeth but nodded and got up.

Then Desi shifted into what had been Jack’s position. It was an exhausting and emotional draining game of musical chairs. Mac glanced back and forth as Desi crossed her legs and sat next to Mac.

“Hi again”

“Uh…hi”

“I’m not sure if you remember me. But we met a few hours ago, I’m Desi.”

Mac was taken back by the abrupt tone, but he went with it. She offered him her hand, he took it. She gripped his hand in the same way that she had done when he’d got on the plane, it was firm, but not threatening. It seemed secure some how.

“I’m sorry, I don’t recognise you.”

“It’s okay you. You’ve been through a lot, your mind is probably going to be a bit hazy.”

“You said something about a mission?”

“Yes. You asked why you ended up in the “clinic”. Firstly I feel like I should say. It wasn’t a clinic or a hospital or anything good or medical or useful. It was basically a prison. No one sent you there to get better. It was…a mission. You got sent there because...you were going to help people, to rescue them.”

“Rescue them? I mean? Me? What? Why?”

“Because…and I know this will sound weird. But you’re a spy, a great one actually. You were part of a team to help rescue a whole set of captive people. That was your latest mission and you got…stuck there.”

“Stuck there?”

“I don’t know exactly know what happened afterwards. I know you were sent to help them, and you did get the people out…but you were sent to get information too and you wanted more info and… you asked to extend the mission and after that you disappeared. We looked for you….but we couldn’t find..”

“Wait a minute ? We?”

“Yeah….I was part of the team too. We all were, Riley over there and Bozer.”

“Not Jack?”

“Um no. Not this one, he was on a different mission. But I…I’m sure he would have wanted to be with you. He thinks the world of you.”

“I um…thanks.”

After her speech Desi took a breath. She stared at Mac and hoped she’d made the right decision. She knew that he’d been hurt badly, brutalised even. But her logic was honesty, honesty was the best policy. Surely understanding a bit of why this all happened was better than being confused and scared? She just prayed she hadn’t traumatised him further.

“So we worked together then?”

Desi raised her eyebrow, that was not the question she was expecting.

“Yeah, we’re on the same team.”

“Were we friends then?”

“Sure, of course”

“Did we know each other very well?”

“Well I’ve worked with you for a long time, a few years. Although Riley’s known you longer and Jack.”

“Were we just friends?”

“I um...why do you ask?”

“I don’t know…I’m sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable. I don’t even really know why I asked. Sorry…it was just a stupid question…I mean why would you…never mind.”

“ Not it’s fine, I don’t mind… Mac, we are super close. We’re really good friends. I promise.”

It broke Desi’s heart not to answer Mac honestly. Part of her wanted to yell, yes we’re together! We’re best friends, we’re lovers! You’re the love of my life Mac and the last year without you has been hell and all I want is to be together again. Mac stared at her. He didn’t recognise her, but something stirred. It wasn’t a memory exactly, but some association in his mind. Now he looked at her properly away from the soldiers and the burning building, he felt like she was important to him. Those dark eyes and the long hair, the blunt straight way of talking, it all felt very familiar and comforting.

“Well I’m glad we’re friends.”

Desi pleaseed and relieved at Mac’s reaction decided to push a bit more

“It’s not just me Mac, Riley too. Hey Riley get over here!”

Riley who had been sitting on her own trying to ignore Desi and Mac looked up at the mention of her name. Desi gestured frantically to get over to them. She was terrified, seeing Mac so scared had been…something, something she had struggled to cope with. The idea that one of her best friends was gone and this ghost was there…it just…it was more than what she could deal with. But there Desi was calling her over…She obliged and wondered over. She gave Mac a little wave

“So I know you too?”

“Yes…we’ve know each other for years now.”

“And you were on my team too?”

“Yes…technically you recruited me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah..”

“So am I your boss or something?”

“God no, you’d be the worst boss in the world…I um sorry”

Mac snorted with laughter and grinned at her. Riley’s heart leapt, underneath the bruising she saw a glimmer of the old Mac.

“No it’s fine. Just curious”  
  
“It’s okay. We were, we are colleagues. We worked together on lots of different missions.”

“Were we friends as well?”

“Yes absolutely”

Riley who had been standing awkwardly next to them sat down on the floor of the plane. She stretched legs out and did her best imitation of being relaxed, she couldn’t let Mac see how upset she was

“I mean we hung out at your house all the time. We all used to go there and eat and drink and stuff.”

“Wow…okay…tell me, if you don’t mind??” Mac said sliding on the floor opposite her. The sofa had felt weird to him, too soft, too comfortable. He’d spent a lot of time on floors in recent months, sitting crossed legged on the floor made more sense to him. Desi joined him. Slowly the three started to talk. Riley felt bizarre describing Mac’s own house to him, but he seemed to be adjusting to it okay so she went with it. She talked about the fire pit outside, his inventions, his eyes lit up at that. How many things in the house were jerry rigged and built from random other items.

“Wait a sec, I got something for you.”

Riley got up and went back to her backpack next to her seat. She pulled out a small white box. She sat down again; Desi grinned at her

“So I got you something. I guess I thought of it as a welcome home gift or I don’t know. It’s silly really but go on open it. You used to play with these all the time.”

She held out the white box to Mac. He took it slowly, he shook it. It rattled, he pulled the white case off with shaking hands and inside was a clear plastic box full of paperclips.

“Riles is right. You make everything out of these, your house is covered in them.”

“I do?”

“Absolutely. Go on tip ‘em out, have a go. We all can.”

So Mac opened up the plastic and poured them onto the floor. He touched the grey paper clips and felt them in his finger. He started to twist the metal in his hands as the two women kept up a steady stream of conversation. They described dinners they had had at Mac’s house, they talked about going on holiday together as a big group. They even talked about movie night and the constant arguments about what to watch and Bozer’s passionate rants about Coppola and the Godfather. Mac didn’t say much in this period, he smiled a bit and kept yanking the paper clips. None of the shapes were elaborate, nothing like his previous creations, circles and squares. But his muscle memory so long buried began to take over and he felt a calm sensation wash over him as he kept playing with them. 


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the epic angst fest of the previous chapter and the amazing response (thanks everyone!) I decided to write another short update.
> 
> Boze and Marriott talk, the gang slowly move back together and maybe Mac and Desi's relationship is not lost.

Marriott departed to the bathroom trying hard not to flinch as she walked. When she made it inside, she lifted her up her top, her right side was covered with bruises and bits of glass were embedded in her skin. She didn’t have any tweezers so she just pulled out the glass with tissue and her fingers. It was a painful curse filled few minutes, but it got done. None of the cuts were especially deep, but she felt raw. She washed her hands in the tiny sink flinching as her cut up hand made contact with the water.

She came out to see Bozer hovering near the bathroom

“Hi again” he said

“Hiya”

“You doing okay?”

“Nothing I can’t handle”

“Wow”

“It’s like talking to Mac, but more annoying.”

“Thanks…I think.”

“How’s he doing?”

Bozer indicated the little trio on the floor animatedly talking further up the plane. Marriott smiled, her eyes even watered a little bit. Finally Mac was grinning, he even laughed! She was also relieved in a way. Jack was nowhere to be seen, but somehow, he’d led back MacGyver to his family where he belonged.

“Why aren’t you joining them?”

“I will in a sec, just thought I’d come and say hi to you.”

“You always were sweet Boze.”

“What can I say, I’m sweetness itself.”

Marriott giggled, Bozer had always charmed her. She felt like a teenager again. Although adult her knew it didn’t really mean anything, it was nice to have a conversation that wasn’t horrifyingly depressing.

“Hey come with me, let’s join the gang.”

“I don’t know Bozer, I wouldn’t want to interrupt”

“Don’t be weird Marriott.”

“I Boze…um”

“Look, I get more than most that you and Mac have this messed up history. Hell I had a front row seat to most of it. But he needs his family and his friends around him now. I’m going to take a wild guess and say you’re still that”

“With a ten-year gap”

“Even with a ten-year gap”

She nodded at him and they wondered over. Bozer grabbed a bunch of snacks from the bar; potato chips and fancy chocolates. Marriott trailed behind him. They made their way up to the trio still on the floor

“Room for two more in this party??” Bozer said presenting the snacks with pride

“The more the merrier!” Desi said her eyes sparkling, she looked at Mac. He nodded happily.

So Marriott climbed over the sofas and squished herself next to Bozer. Riley eyed her but said nothing. She began to tell an elaborate story about Mac creating a snow machine for her. Bozer started to laugh and add his own details. Marriott giggled in between chips. Dalton who had departed to the other bathroom and watched from a distance felt a stab of envy. Boze ever the observant one yelled at him

“Get over here old man! No one does a Bruce Willis impression like you.”

After Jack went faintly pink with embarrassment. He perched on the sofas muttering something about his knees not being able to take the floor, he plucked the bag of chips from Marriott’s hands scattering mess in her hair. There was an awkward pause, but then she burst into laughter. The gossip continued on, Mac’s head hurt, but in a good way. None of his memories were returning, but the whole scene seemed familiar to him somehow. He felt that some part of him knew this life, chatting and exchanging stories with friends.

Mac looked around him at all the different faces. It wasn’t that all his aches and pains were gone, on the contrary. His leg was still horribly painful and his back was throbbing, but he felt lighter. Could these strangers who he still didn’t know be his family? They seemed not to be bothered by him and his many faults. They didn’t mind that he didn’t talk very much or if he did, his sentences came out a little bit stilted. None of them bat an eyelid at the bruises on his face or if his hands shook. He liked the paperclips, he liked making things, even small things and they seemed amazed when did that.

MacGyver hoped that this would all last and that this was his life now or it could be. But some dark little bit of him murmured in his ear; it’s not, it’s not, this isn’t going to last, this will all disappear. Mac did his best to put those thoughts aside trying to be practical or at least not too invested in all it. If it didn’t stick, if they all left him again which they very well might, at least…well at least he got a chance to recover for a bit. This felt like the longest period in who knows how long where he wasn’t being burned or screamed at or beaten. These people were good people because they had taken him away from Severin if nothing else and for that he was very grateful.

Dalton watched all his kids from above them. His own guilt that was so poisonous took a rest for a little while. The reality of Mac’s recovery and everything he still had to face was put aside for a bit. His shame over abandoning them was put away to be dealt with later. He watched Mac; his hoss smile and giggle at Bozer’s exaggerated gestures. He watched Riley leaning back making a paperclip necklace and Desi. The recruit (she wasn’t really that even then but Jack could never not see her as the terribly serious faced soldier from all those years ago) he’d left behind who was so now integral to this family slowly pushing the broken pieces back together. He eyed Marriott too, she wasn’t really his. But he knew that she was a damaged kid just like Mac and he shouldn’t have been so cruel. She was the reason Mac was alive and that Jack was reunited with him. He touched her shoulder at one point and she nodded at him, their fight was maybe not forgiven, but forgotten for a while. The hours stretched on and the strange picnic descended into an elaborate game of charades with Dalton elaborately waving his arms around and leaping into the air. He saw that he made Riley laugh so hard that her make up ran. He thought there could be a chance for forgiveness yet.

Riley didn’t really know what to think of Jack, she had put her initial anger aside for the sake of the mission and brining Mac home. Watching Jack jump around and be silly reminded her how much she had missed him, but it made her confused too. It was still a mess, nothing was really fixed in their relationship. Then there was Mac, he looked so fragile, so vulnerable. But he smiled and laughed and pushed his long hair out of his face just like he always did. Riley did her best to hide her shock as the gestured revealed yet more scaring near Mac’s hairline. There was also no hint of actual recognition in his eyes, but Riley was sure or she was praying that the core of who Mac was, was somehow still in there; his kindness, his brilliance, his weirdness. That combo couldn’t have been lost right? She contented herself watching Mac make paper clip shapes.

Bozer was exhausted but happyish, surrounded by his friends. It had been a long three days and possibly the craziest in his life (that was saying something given he was a spy). But it was good, well maybe not good. But it was moving in the right direction, Mac was alive, he was coming home! A messed-up Mac sure, but Mac was still in there. Bozer was sure of it, he’d seen Mac endure a whole cavalcade of horrific things in his life, both professional and personal. But Mac had never lost who he was, not really. It was sometimes temporarily misplaced, but Mac always found who he was again, this time it would just take a little bit longer. Memories of Mac flooded his brain, running for their lives from bullies, trying to talk to girls, blowing things up in the science lab and of course running from terrorists or just general bad guys. Watching over Mac in hospital (more times than Bozer cared to count), waking up with broken bones of his own with Mac watching over him asleep in a chair.

Marriott here again was a bit of a wildcard, bonkers and brilliant! A movie nerd like him, a few memories of them flicked into his head. Trying beer for the first time, arguing over Tarantino movies (a hot topic for them in their teens), comforting her when she was crying…that almost moment, it was a life time ago. But now up in the air, his friends were all safe, safe and together again!

After a while Bozer suggested a movie (his answer to everything in life) as he sense the edge dropping and he thought settling into a movie might keep Mac content. He knew his friend was exhausted and probably confused and terrified, a movie was safe territory right? He started flicking through the inflight movie collection (agents had to occupy themselves somehow after saving the world). It was not great, but eventually he found an old classic; Philadelphia Story – Cary Grant – safe and easy. Everyone nodded sleepily, even Mac smiled and joked about not remembering it (his sense of humour was never his strong point). Then there was an argument about screens and a lot of jerry rigging of tables. Boze wanted to hug Mac when made a suggestion about pulling screws out to secure the balance of a table, Mac just looked blankly at him. Riley nobly sacrificed one of her laptops for the cause and so they were eventually all set up in a strange huddle. Boze stretched out on the sofas, Marriott stayed on the floor crossed legged, Riley stretched out her long legs on the carpet. Mac remained on the floor with Desi next to him.

They all quietened down and began to watch. It was peaceful, possibly the weirdest movie night ever, but there you go. Mac found himself squeezing Desi’s hand at one point without thinking, he pulled it back murmuring apologies. Desi responded by taking his hand in hers firmly and squeezing it back and she kept it there.

“It’s fine, you’re safe Mac. You’re going home.” she said softly in his ear


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phoenix crew arrive in LA and it doesn't go well
> 
> Matty and Marriott face off against each other
> 
> I dedicate this in part to constantwriter85 on tumblr as well because reading one of their stories (a Bucky Barnes story called Soldat massively inspired me-it's epic so go read that too!)

The pilot made an announcement waking most of them from their various states of slumber. Slowly, but surely Desi, Riley, Bozer and Jack all got up stretched and groaned. Mac was already awake sitting on his own staring out of the window. He hoped that maybe seeing the skyline or the buildings below might jog his memory. Nothing came, but looking out onto what was a new landscape made him happy, so it wasn’t a total loss. Marriott was awake too, but she was not so interested in LA emerging from the clouds, she was scheming about how to get herself home. She didn’t want to abandon Mac, however she had no interest in being stuck with the Phoenix Foundation either. Jack came and sat next to MacGyver

“Never thought LAX would prove so fascinating for anybody, let alone you” he quipped

Mac smiled weakly at him, but then looked away from the window. Dalton’s heart sank

“So what will happen to me?” Mac asked quietly

“Happen?”

“When we land, I mean, where will you take me?”

“Take Mac? Nothing so dramatic, Mac. We’ll all try and head back to the Phoenix. Hopefully Matty will be there to meet us and there’s your other boss Russ Taylor.”

“But after that?”

“After that, you can go home and recover.”

Mac continued to stare at the floor, but hope was rising inside his heart. The idea of home, even unremembered had been up until this point beyond imagining. But now it was actually possible, within reach. All these people even only as fuzzy outlines in his mind made him feel like belonged. Maybe he could re-find his place in the world with them.

“What about Marriott?” He asked

“What about her?”

“Is she coming too?”

“I…”

Jack paused at this point. He’d always hated lying to Mac, but he didn’t necessarily think explaining the fact that the Phoenix would have to question her for hours on end, possibly days was a good idea.

“I think you’ll have to ask her.”

Mac thanked him and nodded. He wobbled over to her sitting on the opposite side, lost in thought. She registered him and stood up to offer her hand and he half fell into the chair next to her

“How are you feeling Mac?” she asked smiling at him

“Okay…I guess. It’s all horribly confusing, but I think it’s good. I remember Bozer…and Jack sort of. And I don’t know the other two…exactly. But somehow something is recognisable. I know it must sound kind of nuts.”

“Not at all Mac, they’re your family. You might not remember them, but some deep part of you knows them.”

“Like with you…”

“I…um”

“I mean…I recognised you right away. Some part of my brain knew you, knew I had history with you.”

“Yes I guess that’s right.”

“Jack’s told me that I can go home…proper home. I don’t know where that is exactly. But it would be good if you could…you could come back. I mean…if you don’t want that’s absolutely fine. But…I’d like you too. I mean you saved my life and my friend’s, the least I could do…is offer you a bed for the night. I’m not sure how big the place is, but you could obviously stay. I…look…”

“Of course Mac, I’ll happily come back with you.”

Mac breathed a sigh of relief and waited. The pilot made another announcement, they were soon be arriving in LAX. Boze, Riley and Desi chatted in a corner. Mac seemed relatively content, none of them really trusted Marriott. However ,she produced a calming effect on Mac and that was enough of a positive for now. They all sat down and strapped in and waited for the plane to land. The whole tone had become serious again, although Mac was relatively content. Reality had kicked back in with force for his family; he was so hurt, so damaged, the prospect of bringing him back to his true self was a scary prospect that weighed on them collectively. They touched down without incident. Riley spied Russ waiting on the strip surrounded by an ambulance, three trucks and two cars as well as a small crowd of people; two doctors and what looked like security and more importantly no Matty. Desi exited the plane first, followed by Riley. Then Boze came with Jack, they had insisted on supporting Mac as he went down the stairs. His leg was a mess, it was remarkable that he was walking at all. Marriott hovered inside the plane, trying to think. So, she missed the initial meeting on the tarmac. 

Russ walked over to them followed by his entourage. He was shocked at Mac’s altered appearance. Pale and thin, with bruises over his face and dark circles under his eyes and a very noticeable limp. However ,Taylor was a master of his emotions and none of his horror showed. Instead he offered his hand to Mac and shook it.

“Angus…it’s been a long time. I’m glad to see you’ve made it out alive.”

“I’m sorry…I don’t recognise you.”

“It’s Russ Taylor. I’m one of your bosses at the Phoenix Foundation”

“Oh okay…”

Taylor went onto explain that they would head back to the foundation, they all needed to get checked out. Mac nodded, he was still leaning on Jack heavily almost without thinking. He nodded along, he had no idea about the foundation. They had talked about it a little, but Mac had no reference. It sounded alright. Matilda would be with them shortly (Mac remembered her the long straight dark hair and a way of making soldiers become very scared very quickly). Taylor shifted out of the way and gestured to the vehicles and doctors behind him who smiled at the little group, that’s when it all went wrong. The ambulance, the vehicles and the white coats….Mac’s mind went into melt down. He hadn’t really registered any of it at first. His main focus had been on not aggravating his leg and both Bozer and Jack had kept up a steady stream of conversation. But seeing them in full view it was all too horribly familiar, he was being put into another institute. The nice moments on the plane, the normality, all the kindness; it has all been a test, some kind of trick. He was being sent back to the hell he’d come from, but it was worse. It was a new horror, a new set of rules he wouldn’t be able to understand. He unhooked himself from Bozer and Jack stumbling backwards. He grabbed the metal stairs trying to steady himself. He was angry at himself for his foolishness, for falling for what was such an obvious trick (why would these people want him anyway?)

“I won’t go back…don’t make me go back….I’ll behave I swear. I’ll do whatever you ask, but don’t make me go back.”

“Wooah hoss, no one’s making you go anywhere…these people. They’re not like the men from before. They’re proper doctors, they’re here to look after you, to take care of you.”

“No, no, no…I can’t, I won’t. I’ll die…Look…”

Mac’s mind struggled to find a way out

“Please….I know it’s trick. I know all of that on the plane…it was some kind of test, right??…I get…I failed the test. I can see I did. But look I’ll do better. I’ll go anywhere else you want, but please don’t make me go back there.”

He kept his hand on the metal rail, but held up his other in a pleading gesture.

“I know I’m not of any use to you now.…I’m broken inside, I’m broken inside and out. I got...I got taught that, I know it. It’s drilled into me. Don’t make me go back there, I don’t need to be told it again. I’ll be good. I’ll be quiet, I won’t do anything bad…I won’t… I promise not to steal anything or hurt anyone…I know I’m broken inside and out… I’ll disappear and get out of your way. You can all get on with your lives and and and….you can forget all about me. Just don’t send me back to… there...back…”

The kid’s voice trailed off. He looked at Dalton with desperate puppy dog eyes, it was as though he wasn’t Mac anymore…every trace of him was gone, he was just this petrified kid. Jack’s heart was in his throat (when this was over he was going to stab that British guy with something very sharp). Jack moved towards Mac to bring him into a hug. But he backed away from, hand raised. He was on the verge of trying to run even on a wonky leg, the realisation that he was going back in that hole, he was convinced that he’d escaped from, he just couldn’t. Mac was angry too, that he’d fallen for the trick that he’d some how thought they’d all wanted him. This ‘family’, these friends, when all they wanted to do was put him some place worse.

He looked around starting to look for ways out. Russ came towards him, trying to calm him. Dalton pushed him back glaring at him. The girls moved towards him and Bozer tried to say soothing things to him, but it was all too much. Mac put his hands over his ears determined to block out the horror, if he could just shut all the noise out and wait. The noise around him got louder as they all tried to argue about what they should do. Mac was trying to plot a route away in his head, could he get one of the cars? If he left them arguing, could he just disappear and escape?? Marriott heard the yelling and came out at the top of the stairs. After she come down two or three steps, Russ turned up to her

“Ahh I wondered when you would appear. You’re the difficult reporter. I’ve got strict instructions to take you to the foundation. Have you been putting ideas into Angus’s head?”

“Ahhh…you’re the British guy with too much gel in his hair…Angus? What?”

This produced a snigger from Desi and Riley (despite Mac's mental breakdown happening only a few feet away from him)

“I’m sorry, I thought we were making random assumptions about each other.”

“Please follow me.”

“Just no, nope.”

Marriott shot down the rest of the stairs clocking Mac with his eyes tightly shut, with Jack trying to calm him. The rest stood a little way off. Bozer at one point tried to move closer but Mac pushed him away as well. She side-stepped past Taylor and came up behind and saw Jack whispering to Mac. What had happened in maybe the last 10 minutes she’d been in the plane? She tapped Jack on the shoulder and shrugged her shoulders, maybe she could make Mac relax a little or enough? Dalton moved aside to let her try. He ran his fingers through his hair. She gently put her hands over Mac’s still covering his ears

“Hey…hey…what’s happened? It’s Marriott. What’s wrong?”

A familiar voice, no it had to be a trick. It was all trick, he was going back to the hole he just got out of.

“None of it’s real…you’re not real. It’s all a trick”

“It’s not Mac, I’m right here. Mac just open your eyes…please open your eyes.”

“They’re going to take me back…I won’t go back…I won’t go back.”

“Mac…I’m not sure that’s not true. These people all love you.”

“No…no. They’re going to take me back. I…”

“Mac open your eyes. No one’s taking you anywhere.”

When Mac refused to look up, Marriott went for a different tact

“Okay Mac…okay. Forget everyone else, look at me. Look only at me. Forget the rest of the world. Just look at me. I’m right here. Can you just look at me?”

Mac tentatively opened his eyes, there she was staring back at him. Marriott had kept hold of his hands. As he brought them down away from his ears, she gave them an encouraging squeeze.

“Hi again”

“Let’s get out of here”

Marriott hesitated slightly, Mac clearly was frightened of something. But taking off wasn’t necessarily wise, however she needed a route out too.

“Alright, let’s bail!”

He nodded at her relieved. All of his friends had stood on the side-lines; jealous and angry and very worried. Russ on the other hand took advantage of the moment and stepped behind Marriott (He never was good with tact)

“Angus…it’s time to head back to the foundation”

“And you…”

“It’s Marriott”

Russ grabbed one of Marriott’s wrists and a set of elaborate handcuffs went on her. She groaned and swore

“Seriously?”

“You wouldn’t come with us willingly”

“Now I guess, we’ll never know”

At this point Mac snapped back into focus horrified

“Wait! I’ll II…I’ll go with you. Please let her go though. I’ll do whatever you ask. She’s not done anything wrong. She doesn’t need to go with you…I’ll go… I’ll be good I swear.”

“I’m sorry Angus, but you need to both come with us.”

“Now look here Taylor, the kid’s nothing wrong! You don’t need the handcuffs, Mac you don’t need to go anywhere.”

“I’m sorry Agent Dalton, but Matilda has they both needed to come back to the foundation. Angus is seriously hurt and…”

So the argument began again this time between Dalton and Taylor screaming at each other. The others tried to move in at comfort Mac, but he refused to go anywhere near them. He was still terrified, his whole body hurt, all the injuries of the last days came back to haunt him. Marriott stood handcuffed still. Finally Mac was moved towards the ambulance still virtually begging. Jack was filled with rage, Riley had to drag him away, before he fought the guards. Violence and a blood bath would help no one. Bozer and Desi came with Mac trying to make him listen and understand that he really safe.

Marriott was moved into one of the cars that was waiting on them. Mac was moved into a vast ambulance in the middle. The rest of them shifted onto to it to join him. When all the vehicles started moving Mac had become silent and virtually limp. Taylor went ahead separately. The drive was not long. When they arrived at the headquarters Marriott went one way while Mac was told to wait in the ambulance. After Marriott was out of sight, Jack put his hand on Mac’s knee

“Mac we’re here. Do you reckon you can get out?”

Mac simply nodded. Pleading had not worked to help himself or her, so silent obedience was currently his only option. His friends all looked at him expectantly. Silent Mac was never good at the best of times which of course this wasn’t. They guided him inside. Boze took one arm and Jack the other, they watched as Mac flinched as he walked putting weight down on his bad leg. Riley and Desi led the way. They found the hospital wing of the ward easily enough, when Mac saw it his panic set in again. He started to shake, although it was not the ill-kept chaos he lived in previously, it was still too recognisable, too akin to his life before. He determinedly got the shakes under control. When yet another new face emerged and smiled at him, he remained quiet.

Then came the exam, Jack asked if the doctor could postpone, could just take him home??

“It’s fine Jack. I’ll do whatever she wants” Mac had responded.

Dalton wanted to scream in frustration. So the exam continued, the doctor set up some curtains so MacGyver was given a semblance of privacy. He pulled off the now filthy medical scrubs covered in blood and dirt and waited. The doctor took in his ravaged form. The bruises across his body, the cuts across his legs and his back. The marks on his wrist, under his hair. Mac just kept his eyes on the tiles beneath his feet, it would all be over soon, it would all be over soon. The doctor realised he probably had multiple broken bones, but thought that a scan and the cast could wait for a while. He checked over Mac’s injuries and then gave him a hospital gown to change into and departed. He spoke quietly with the foursome waiting outside. Mac stood for a while and then fell against the bed, he just about managed to supress a groan. He looked down at himself, scars covered his body, one of his hands looked wonky. The cut across his stomach remained sore and a brand new bruises were there in different colours. There wasn’t a single part of him that didn’t hurt. He wanted to cry at the sheer desperation of it all, but he stopped himself. He felt horribly trapped, but it was not quite the same despair as before. He had to escape, to leave, he’d find Marriott and take her with him. They’d get out of here, find somewhere else. He could fix this, he could fix himself, he just needed sometime.

**

Marriott after trying and failing to get rid of her handcuffs had ended up in a small grey room. She cast her eyes about, there was plain metal table in the centre, two chairs on the other side. The guards had taken her round the back route of the foundation, still she had done best to memorise the various turns and corridors. Marriott also did her best to bury her panic, while she was probably not in serious trouble, getting out of this place was going to be tough. Russ had left Angus to his friends and made sure she was locked away safe and sound. Matty in a rare moment of cowardice on her part had decided to interrogate Marriott first rather than see Mac. So ultimately Marriott didn’t wait very long before she was joined by Webber and Taylor. Webber walked in and looked at Marriott, a file in hand. Maeve Marriott, adopted, lived in New York City now, a reporter for the times, but had moved around a great deal, she’d lived in Mission City for a while as a kid, presumably where the connection to Mac came from? but not much else. She was not distinctive, there were a few social media accounts with friends, holidays, the odd book review. She was very ordinary. This made Matty suspicious, it had all the makings of a spy’s resume or something it that world. She sat down and faced her. Taylor took a seat in the corner.

“So Miss Marriott.”

“How’s Mac?”

“He’s recovering”

“He didn’t look like he was ‘recovering’ when I saw him last. He looked like was in fear of his life.”

“He’s being well taken care of.”

“Taken care, right…that doesn’t sound creepy at all.”

“I see you’re a reporter for the Times.”

“I’d like to see him.”

“I see you’re a reporter for the Times. Is that why you were at the Institute? What were you reporting on?”

Marriott’s eyes wondered to the ceiling. Webber was struck by the woman’s confidence. She was an experienced journalist, secure and familiar at least in part with this routine. If she wasn’t so smug and irritating Matty might have actually liked her.

“I’d like an answer.”

“I’d like out of these handcuffs, but I doubt we’re either of going to get what we want.”

“What was your story? Why were you there?”

She remained silent

“If you don’t answer my questions I can have you arrested.”

“What for?”

“Posing as a doctor.”

“One I’ve got no idea that’s true, I’m not a lawyer. But I’m pretty sure you can’t arrest people for non-existent crime. The medical degree is genuine, nothing posy about it.”

Webber glared at her. This woman was too secure for her liking, getting anything out of her would be difficult at best. 

“Do you know why you’re here Miss Marriott?”

“I can take an educated guess. But I’m thinking you’re probably going to tell me.”

“Well you’re here because of your connection to Angus MacGyver and Jack Dalton. I’m questioning you because of the potential security risk.”

“Right okay”

Marriott was counting down in her head, all she had to do was stall. The report would be out soon enough and then the foundation could do nothing about it.

“How do you know Angus MacGyver?”

“Can I lose the handcuffs? My hands and arms are killing me. Get rid of them and I’ll tell you exactly how I met him.”

Webber went to the door and got one of the guards to come in and undo the handcuffs. Marriott purred and wiggled her fingers and stretched her arms. After she poked up her cut up fingers a little bit Marriott launched into how she’d met Mac and Bozer in Mission City, it was no secret, how they’d known each other at school, meeting via bullies etc. She’d side-stepped the fights and their bitter blow out and her trip to Afghanistan. She took an educated guess that maybe the programme she’d been on at the time wouldn’t want to advertise their inability to keep hold of her and how long she stayed and her exit. But she kept Webber absorbed in her story for as long as she could. Russ remained quiet in the corner glaring at her (technically they were both glaring at her). Eventually he got a beep on his phone, he murmured something in Matty’s ear and they both stepped out. Marriott stretched backwards and smiled. The report had to be out by now. The expressions on their two faces on their return confirmed it. She was busy basking in her own glory when she had a brain wave

“Russ Taylor! Spearhead operations!”

“Excuse me?”

“I knew I recognised you from somewhere!”

“Do I know you?”

“No, no. But I know of you, Your company was very useful at providing fixers for journalists. I’d forgotten you’d bought the foundation”

Webber stared at him. She knew a bit about his life as head of Spearhead operations, but helping journalists? It seemed far too altruistic for Taylor and more importantly like it wouldn’t make him any money. Something to interrogate him about at another point. 

‘So you guys going to let me out any time soon?”

“No, we’re got a number of questions we still want to ask you.”

Marriott sighed, she was already bored and tired

“I suggest you start being a little more cooperative.”

“Or what?”

“Or we can have you detained on a much longer basis”

“Well…I mean you could. But I wouldn’t advise it.”

“And why is that?”

“Well there’s a few reasons, I’m a reporter…”

“With a relatively minor career in journalism” (Webber said this, but actually didn’t believe it. Marriott’s whole attitude suggested a long and successful career probably in investigative journalism)

“No argument there, but I have an editor to report to and eventually they’re going to start wondering where I am. Also there is the whole going against my human rights thing. Oh and I saved the best until last, I carry passports from three different nations and I’m sure your ‘foundation’ doesn’t particularly want to an international incident with three different countries.”

Marriott was gambling on this. Her knowledge of international law was pretty limited, but she knew a lot about PR and the foundation relied on it’s cover for survival. Pressuring them or risking exposure was a gamble, but it was her best option currently. Taylor and Webber left her alone again and went to talk outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts on Mac at this point? 
> 
> Yes I'm cruel to yank back his recovery, but the idea of him seeing a medical thing and then freaking out was believable and interesting to me
> 
> I tried to shift him along a little in the sense although he's fragmented and worries. His core personality is actually returning (the desire to escape/looking for a way out!)


End file.
